Cannot Delete Partition

Tweaker · 02-25-2003, 12:07 PM

Hey newbie here,

I installed Mandrake Linux on my spare computer...then decided I wanted to have windows on it, come to find out that linux partitioned it in half, and now I can't get rid of it (and can only use 1.5 gigs from a 3 gig HDD). Any ideas? Thanks for any info.

I did some checking here on you site, and came up with Ranish Partition Manager. Is this the best way to do it?

Thanks again for any info, I do appreciate it.

Mara · 02-25-2003, 12:50 PM

Do you have fdisk? It can delete partitions.

Tweaker · 02-25-2003, 12:56 PM

Thanks I'll give that a try. Thank you again for the help.

Tweaker · 02-25-2003, 01:37 PM

I'm in Fdisk right now (other pc of course) ... i go to Delete logical DOS drives in the extended dos partition....says no logical drives defined - all logical drives deleted in the extended dos partition. Then I go to Delete extended DOS partition..and it says Cannot delete extended dos partition while logical drives exist. None of the functions work for fdisk. Thanks for any other advice I greatly appreciate it.

Mara · 02-25-2003, 01:53 PM

So you need Linux fdisk, I guess. You can run it when you boot 1st installation cd in "rescue" mode.

michaelk · 02-25-2003, 01:57 PM

Ranish should work. DOS fdisk for Win98 has an option for deleting non DOS partitions.

You can also use the Mandrake CD to boot to rescue mode. Then you can either use linux fdisk or parted.

Tweaker · 02-25-2003, 02:02 PM

Thanks, I'll give that a try and see what happens. Thanks again for the help.

cuckoopint · 02-25-2003, 06:55 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Tweaker
I'm in Fdisk right now (other pc of course) ... i go to Delete logical DOS drives in the extended dos partition....says no logical drives defined - all logical drives deleted in the extended dos partition. Then I go to Delete extended DOS partition..and it says Cannot delete extended dos partition while logical drives exist. None of the functions work for fdisk. Thanks for any other advice I greatly appreciate it.

I had the same problem when I was trying to delete a NTFS partition with win's fdisk (I did not know that hd had a ntfs, and it was simply reported as extended/logical - same error). Booting a linux floppy and using that fdisk quickly pointed out the problem.

But from you're first post...it seems you're trying to delete a linux partition?

Using win's fdisk, I remember doing this before by "deleting other partition" option. If you boot a linux floppy, the fdisk should take care of this w/o a problem.