If i remove the Windows partition to install Linux because i want room on my computer, does that remove all the files that i had using windows? like things i downloaded or text documents i wrote? i'm trying to learn more about partitions, so if you could tell me a bit more about them too, that'd be great. thanks in advance!

also, after i've installed Mandrake, can i repartition Windows again if i want more room for Mandrake? or would i have to uninstall it and reinstall again?

Pretty much yeah.

Normally when you install windoze you only create 1 partition: C:
Occasionally (and more and more lately) some of the prepackaged PC's will create a second partition for you: D:
This is good because for people like you who wanna ditch windoze but don't wanna lose their files, they have an easy backup solution.

So, if you've got 2 windoze drives (C: and something like D: ) they you can copy all the data to the D: partition and format your C partition and lose windoze without losing your precious files. However, if you format your only partition it's likely you'll lose all the files that existed on it (there are some recovery abilities, but those are usually highly expensive or not worth the effort for the average user).

Best bet is to backup first, then attempt whatever you are thinking about

As for learning about partitions, do a search on:
primary secondary extended logical
On this site and google.com and google.com/linux
There will be TONS of info on partitions and what they mean/do.

HTH

Cool

More details please, what is your hardware and what flavor of Windows do you run?

Do you wish to dual boot Windows and Linux?

The Pre-Installation Help File

Rute Guide's Partitions, File Systems, Formatting, Mounting section.

alright, thanks much!

Hi Enil8

Whenever you delete a partition, you delete a filesystem too - the filesystem is formatted into the partition.

The job of a filesystem is to store files in a certain way - so - when you delete a filesystem holding your files, you delete the files aswell.

For Windows, I suggest creating atleast two partitons. One for Windows and its applications. The other for your files. Every now and then Windows will become corrupted. This is a fact. Format the partitions as FAT32 instead of NTFS. Use win98 format utility if you are going to format a partition that is greater than 32 gigabytes.

When you format using MS format, it doesn't really format. You can get your files back if you run unformat and you haven't added any files to the drive. If you use format /u, this will turn off the safe format. This means you can not use unformat.

Plan out your partitions. Draw it on paper if you need to.