Partitions and Reformatting
 

I have a 14GB HD partitioned into two 7GB sections - one for Windows 98, the other for RedHat linux 9 (the Linux one then has boot , swap, etc. partitions). Now I want to reinstall Windows. Would it be okay to do a "format c:" in order to clear my Windows partition? Or would it wipe out Linux as well? I originally partitioned with DiskDruid - both partitions were recognised by Windows as C: and D: drives, then the D: drive disappeared when I installed Linux (as expected). Thanks in advance.

You can format c:, Linux will not be touched throughout the process, be sure that you have a boot disk, because when reinstalling Windows, it will overwrite your MBR where GRUB/Lilo is installed and you will not be able to boot to Linux anymore... You will need the boot disk to boot to Linux and reinstall Grub/Lilo in the MBR....

Could I also use the Linux installation CD #1 and do rescue mode?

yeah you can also do that....

jt1020:
Big question...what steps do I take to perform an install of the grub bootloader after clearing my MBR (like an idiot). I ran fdisk -l from the resue mode command prompt, after booting from CD 1 in RedHat 9. The results follow:

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 3246 24539728+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2 3247 3260 105840 83 Linux
/dev/hda3 3797 3876 604800 1c Hidden Win95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/hda4 3261 3796 4052160 f Win95 Ext’d (LBA)
/dev/hda5 3261 3744 3659008+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda6 3745 3796 393088+ 82 Linux swap

My plan is simple (haha). I want to get my grub bootloader functioning again. Then I will remove the windows partition and reinstall windows on a smaller partition. Then I want to take the extra 5 GB that I don't use and somehow merge it with my current linux partition. Any ideas?