gParted use

[nichos]

Anybody knows or tried to use gParted within Ubuntu & format C:\ partition, leaving the others intact, & clean install XP?.

My Sata HD has 7 partitions.

I am trying to format only C: & do a clean install of XP, without loosing all the staff in the other partitions.

I did it a few times before, but this time booting in my win98 floppy does not work. Tried 2-3 floppies.

My "Paragon Partition Manager 8.0 Personal" cannot do it as is working within windows.

Tried various ways to get to the DOS prompt A:\ & use "fdisk or format" without success.

My Full XP CD can only format the whole HD.

Can any body help me please? nick

[bigtomrodney]

Is gParted giving an error? Generally you'd need to unmount the partition before attempting to format it. Have you tried that?

[Pumalite]

Windows is installed first in sda1 (a primary partition) Ubuntu last.
Post:

sudo fdisk -lu

If not in sda1; at least not on a logical partition.
Grub can boot Windows from a logical partition, but it's tricky.

[oz]

Download the PartedMagic LiveCD and put it to good use. It's a small download and quick burn to CD, and you don't have to worry about unmounting your partitions as they are not mounted by default.

It's easy and quick, and it's a great tool set to have on hand for other tasks as they come along.

Keep in mind that XP will overwrite your GRUB bootloader so you'll have to reinstall it after XP does its thing.

[D-cat]

Using a partition editor to format a HDD?
mkfs can format an unmounted partition as long as you know what it is.

use fdisk -l to list available partitions and if only one shows up as type NTFS, that's likely it.

then you use mkntfs (you'll need the package ntfsprogs installed) on /dev/sdax where x is the partition number.

Just curious before something happens we regret, how do you have seven partitions set up, since the MBR can only keep track of four? Are some set up through an extended partition or do you have a custom boot manager that swaps the mbr as necessary on boot like Ranish (the Paragon site is not all that clear about this)?

If you're using an extended partition, then no big deal, but if you're using an MBR swapping boot manager, it could add a whole new level of complication to this operation.

[nichos]

Dear friends, thanx a lot, but for 3 yrs been trying to grasp this Ubuntu thing without success.

Iread your help but is double Dutch to me, am old & a nitwit.

I installed Ubuntu from a Comp.Active magazine preloaded with a few things, but to get on with it proved impossible.

The "gParted" is in it & seems to work like my Partition Manager in XP. which I used for years and always had a lot partitions to separate my things.

Always used FAT32 but last time I did it in NTFS & now FDISK will not recognise Dos things.

All I want to know is if I format C: partition will the others be deleted too.

Then I can return to wndows & XP & do a clean install in C:. nick

[oz]

fdisk and/or gparted will only format the partitions that you direct it to format.

always make a backup of any important data or partitions before doing formatting chores to avoid any potential losses.

[D-cat]

My point was that using a partitioner to do a simple format operation is unnecessarily dangerous, however, I'm also starting to think that maybe this conversation is moot, at least at the moment...

My Full XP CD can only format the whole HD.

Is this actually an XP install CD or is it a system "Recovery CD?" The difference I'm referring to is when you boot the CD, do you get a blue screen with options to install XP or enter a Recovery mode (XP install), or do you get some options to "Restore your system to factory condition...This will destroy all data on your computer" (Recovery/Restore CD).

If we're dealing with a recovery CD, preformatting a separate partition will mean nothing, the CD will wipe them all out anyway.

If you do have a real XP install CD, you can disregard this post.

[Pumalite]

Without knowing what you have in your hard drive, is difficult to help. In any case, backup anything valuable before messing with your partitions.

[nichos]

Thanx all again,

I did it, but don't ask how!. Out of all your info managed to concort something & finally with my "real XP install CD" for the upteenth time got the elusive list of partitions, deleted with closed eyes C:, then installed XP which formated C: first & the world is at peace again.

But you are not off the hook yet.

Evidently now the dual boot "boot.ini" is gone & I cannot find where I save the original.

Can you add to this below what is necessary to give me the "UBUNTU" option again?

[boot loader]
timeout=3
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows
XP"
/fastdetect

Yes D-Cat always used a lot of partitions with no detriment to the PC workings.

I do have another HD but use it for backups only. It seems to me that if I had my programs in another HD away from my XP & its registry, they would have longer to travel & run, than when on same HD.

Anyway I only use FS9, Word, email & small things. nick

Home build,
Asus P5K Premium WiFiiFi Intel,
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 95W 2.4GHz, OCZ Vendetta Cpu Cooler,
2x2GB, 240-pin DIMM, DDR2 800 (400mhz) PC2-6400,
EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX KO 512MB GDDR3 (PCI-E),
Maxtor sata 160gb, OCZ 600W Game XStream Psu, X45,XPpro sp3/Ubuntu 8.04.1