How would I delete a partition?

TroyR · 03-13-2005, 09:19 AM

I installed Suse 9.2 with windows 98 and would now like to get rid of windows 98 and delete the partition to give Suse the full harddrive...
The partition was made with the Linux install.

Komakino · 03-13-2005, 09:26 AM

Assuming windows 98 is on the first partition of the first drive:
cfdisk /dev/hda

(or fdisk /dev/hda)

In fdisk, press p to print the current partition table, then press d to delete a partition. It will ask for the partition number to delete - delete the one that's windows FAT format. Then you can create a new partition by pressing n and the default values for starting cylinder and ending cylinder should use the free space available. Run mkreiserfs or mke2fs -j on the new partition (make sure it IS on the new one because it will wipe any data on the partition!). Or...if you want to make the space available for an existing partition (say your /home or / partition) then run qtparted (available on knoppix and a few others) to resize your partitions.

I would highly recommend using knoppix to perform this last part because it means you can have all your partitions unmounted to resize them which is BY FAR the safer way of doing it.

TroyR · 03-13-2005, 10:43 AM

Damn......I've only started to use Linux the last 3 days...

Komakino · 03-13-2005, 11:15 AM

Well alternatively, as I think about it, if you can get knoppix, boot that and then load qtparted, that should have all the functionality you need (including deleting a partition) and it's all in a nice GUI.

Or see if you can get RPM's of qtparted or gparted for your SUSE install.