So, at boot with grub I have a working Linux Mint (Mate) 18.3 partition on a small 200gb SSD, Windows 7 x64 Ultimate on another a regular 1TB internal drive (not taking the whole space of the disk, it is split in 2, it also has a fubar Mint 17.3 on a 195GB partition...I've been ignoring it for a long time because well...

I'm afraid that if I say, delete the partition for that broken Mint install while in Windows using a program very similar to gparted (Minitools Partition Wizard Technician Edition), it could screw up grub, I mean that's 200gb sitting there doing nothing and despite my 3 externals, which mostly serve as archives and 3 internal drives (the SSD, a Red Caviar WD drive where that broken LinuxMint is, with win7 x64 ultimate and a 1.5gb Seagate..can't say what kind, seems to me Seagate do not sell purposefully better and lesser quality indicators like colour, all's I know is that it tested higher than all my other drives except the SSD when using Disks' benchmark feature).

Are my fears warranted? I have to be in win7 for a while. I know if I was to remove the partition with gParted in Mint, grub would update itself. I've got supergrubdisk in cases of black screens of death with a prompt that offers no help (literally, no -h or --help), also have Boot-Repair OS on disc since it is just Lubuntu with Boot-Repair and other great open source software included with it.

I'm asking because I no longer am using my Dexedrine (ADD med) after my first job after college, it started to be an annoyance, but boy did I learn how to use, compile, repair, do a lot of things much quicker and I didn't lose all hope if I messed up my old linux partition then, it is a real lazy-brain killer,learned tons in my first 2 years and was surpassing some friends who had been using it for years if not a decade.

Alright, enough about my lazy smarts, is it dangerous to format that 195gb ext4 partition while in win7 x64, will it screw up grub? I really don't feel like reinstalling anything right now...

Are you using the Mint 18.3 Grub bootloader to boot both systems?
Did you install 18.3 after 17 and leave the defaults for bootloader installation?
If the answers to both are yes, then you would be using the Grub bootloader to boot both systems and formatting the partition with the old non-working version of Mint to a windows filesystem such as ntfs with your third party tool should not be a problem should have no effect on the Grub bootloader, the files for which would be on the MInt 1.3 partition.

"Generally", you can tell which system is booting because it will place itself first in the boot menu.
If 18.3 is on sda, you can make sure it is booting Grub by installing Grub to the MBR of that drive while booted into it and having sda set to first boot priority in the BIOS.

So basically, if you know that Mint 18.3 is in charge of booting, formatting the old system partition should pose no problem.

so you got windows, and ONE Linux Distro installed, using grub, delete the Linux partition and try to rely on grub to still work just for windows?

wiping the partition, deleting it in windows is okay, grub is on a little bit of space sitting in your MBR area, it will not be effected, but it too will not see an OS that use to be there either so if you're not going to put a Linux back on it, then I strongly suggest you fix your MRB and boot record for windows and let it take back the boot. You need an install DVD, or usb stick or install medium that has the same version of Windows on it to fix it.

If you are planing on using Linux still, I'd say just make a new whatever distro usb stick you want then use that to deal with your 'old' linux partition.

supergrubdisk usb is just for that, to find OSes on your HDD to boot them, and nothing more.

if it is just bugging you because it is there and you are no longer using it, then windows can remove it. Grub should still be able to be used as long as you do not try to boot anything other than windows with it, seeings you only have 1 windows and 1 linux installed. otherwise you could boot into a different linux then install grub with that and have it take control of the boot.


Dexedrine:
that's interesting, psychosis and heart failure. all in that order???

Got a love them side effects, but its safe to use. the FDA said so.

1 members found this post helpful.

Hehe, those symptoms occur in those who take too much, abuse them going on binges before finals in college or worse, it's pretty mild compared to Ritalin and Adderal imo, and it's around since the 60's, only Vyvanse I consider also safe for addi. As for Dexedrine, I stuck to a medium therapeutic dose, too much of everything is dangerous. Caffeine has my heart pumping too fast way much more, although like I said, I'm done with it.

Now for the on-topic part

I have 2 Linux installs and one win7 ultimate x64 install...grub's first choice is the working mint 18.3, then it's win7, then it's the messed up/does not boot. So,there is 2 linux installs, I thought I made sure to make my post as clear as possible.
Thanks by the way to you two, I was just wondering if the third entry at boot in grub would disappear, it is the 195gb partition with the broken Mint 17.3, grub still sees it but it doesn't boot, I was concerned about formatting said partition (sdc1), how it would react, if it would still be in the grub menu despite the partition being wiped clean. I'm still not clear about this, but I'm reassured that it won't cause a cataclysm. Just that one question lingering still...

say I got three OS'es, one of them is windows, two Linux. boot loader is grub.
I wipe both Linux, grub does not get updated because it cannot be updated now. so all three are still there, all it is good for is windows. if I select either one of the Linux it will crash for obvious reasons.

I have not tried this, but the theory is there.

depending on what one does the with partitions that had Linux on them, then cross that bridge when you get to it.
and
everything in moderation, and somethings you just don't do.

If you format the correct partition with the unusable Mint, it will still appear as an option in the Grub menu, at least until you update Grub on the working insall of Mint.

It actually won't be good for anything in that scenario since the necessary Grub files are on the partition(s) deleted so you won't even see a Grub menu and thus will not have the option to boot windows or either Linux. It would be necessary to install windows code to the MBR first.

One way to determine which mint the grub boot loader is using for configuration files is at the grub menu hit c and then set. set will tell you what drive/partition the grub boot menu accesses for it's configuration files. At the worst if you don't delete the wrong mint partition you can still recover from a grub-rescue prompt

I'd expect that the first entry, mint 18.3 is the one which has grub installed on because I've installed that 18.3 Mint on the 200gb SSD more recently than win7 and the broken mint 17.3.

Well thanks everyone, if there's a problem I have a dvd with Boot-Repair OS (Lubuntu with Boot-Repair and other rescue-type software. Boot-Repair has never failed me, I just wanted to make, so as to not go through the aggravation of doing that) Although, like I said, I've installed Mint 18.3 much more recently than the others and when I did, grub menu changed and put 18.3 at the top of the menu, if windows hits a BSOD and reboots while I'm not there (ugghh), I'll come back to the login screen of 18.3's MATE login screen. I'll keep you posted.