The NZ Linux Resource

[AuckLUG] Fwd: DELETING PARTITIONS(OR NEWBIE PLAYING WITH FIRE!!!)

Alan Nicholson alan.nicholson at janal.co.nz
Wed Jan 31 19:50:04 NZDT 2007




I have an Acer Laptop that came originally with WinXP loaded. Although I
hardly ever use it I would like to keep it as a backup for my wifes PC - she
is a bit more locked in to M$ as she is an contract Project Manager who
frequently deals with companies who are solely M$ based. As its a legal copy
(albeit with NO backup CD copy if anything goes wrong) I would like to be
sure not to delete it.

Some time back I loaded SLED 10 on  a trial basis and later installed Suse
10.1 so it now has the 3 OS loaded.

I've now decided to move to OpenSuse 10.2 but want to retain the XP
 partitions and delete all the others and do a fresh install. I could let
 Suse 10.2 do the repartitioning or I have GParted as a live CD so I could
 use that. My problem is ensuring that I don't delete the partitions that 
relate to XP

When I look at the partitions using GParted I see:

Dev/hda1		fat32
hda4		extended
hda5		linux-swap
hda6		reiserfs  (pretty sure this is SLED10as the Bootloader shows SLED10 as
			hda6)
hda7		linux-swap
hda8		ext3
hda9		ext3
hda2		fat32
hda3		fat16

I am assuming that the extended,fat32 & fat16 partitions (hda 1,2 3 &4) are
WinXP. If I look on "My Computer" it looks like the hard drive is set up as 2
drives - C & D. Hence my assumption that the 4 partitions relate to WinXP.
hda6 is SLED with the remaining partitions 5,7,8,&9 being allocated to either
Suse 10.1 or SLED. If this is the case then I assume that I would be safe in
deleting all partitions except 1.2. 3 & 4.

Am I correct in my assumptions or am I playing with fire deleting these
remaining partitions.

Can anyone tell me how to be sure that I am not deleting the XP partitions or
suggest how I can clean out 10.1 & SLED10

Alan

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