Installing linux and removing other OS

nishant.4545 · 04-10-2009, 02:09 PM

Hello everyone,
I use ubuntu 8.10 . I also have windows xp pro installed on my machine. But now I wish to remove windows xp and convert all the ntfs drives to ext3 file system( I think ubuntu uses ext3).
From where shall I start and how to proceed?

repo · 04-10-2009, 02:13 PM

depends what you want
you can reinstall ubuntu and use the entire disk.
you can boot from a live cd, and reformat the window drives.
Later you can mount them and use them in linux.

i92guboj · 04-10-2009, 02:37 PM

No need to reinstall nor even to boot from a livecd. Use fdisk -l to list the partitions. Use mkfs.ext3 to format any of them as ext3. Use mount to mount them.

kapilbajpai88 · 04-10-2009, 02:57 PM

Hi There,

a) fdisk -l
will display alll partions on hard disk
b) todelte a prtition, use :
fdisk /dev/sda (sda or hda depends upon Sata and Pata harddisks)
c) then assign the partition to file system :
mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda11

What you have already been suggested is the same, but I am treying to elaborate that a bit more.

kapil.

i92guboj · 04-10-2009, 03:00 PM

You don't need to use fdisk to delete anything. Just reformat with whatever mkfs.* you want (mkfs.ext3 in this case).

brianL · 04-10-2009, 03:16 PM

Just boot up the Ubuntu disk, double click the install icon, and when it gets to the partitioning stage choose 'Manual'. Delete your Windows partition, then choose 'New' and create a partition for / and another for swap. How big you make these depends on whether you want to use the whole disk or save some free space for trying other distros, size of swap depends on RAM size and what sort of things you want to do.

mitchell2345 · 04-10-2009, 04:05 PM

installing gparted will make this process much simplier...esp for a past windows user.

~Mitchell