[AuckLUG] Dual Boot

[alaric]

This is an awful question to ask a Linux group.  Can anyone tell me how 
(or if) I can reinstall Windows on a dual boot machine.  I have run 
Windows and various Mandrake and Mandriva distros for some years without 
major problems.  My current machine has Windows 2000 and Mandriva 2007 
on Hda  When I ran out of space on the drive I installed Mandriva 2008 
on Hdb courtesy of the Linux magazine.  However Windows has been slowing 
down and acting strangely (or more strangely than usual) and is now not 
useable nor repairable and I will have to reinstall it if I can.

     The installer reported that it could not access drive C, which is 
Hda1.  It suggested I needed to alter the bios.  However, the Bios 
recognizes Hda.  It has to as the master boot record is on it.
It found an NTFS partition which I put in Hdb1 but failed to install. 
What it did was comprehensively wreck Mandriva to the point where I 
could not reinstall on Hdb3 and had to do a clean install.  I only found 
out afterwards that drakbackup, which is set to back up all my user 
files in fact only backs up the ones I don't mind about.  All the 
important ones are not backed up.  Also the restore programme said the 
file was corrupt.  Tar opened it without trouble.

I assume it may be necessary to use the Mandriva installation disk to 
restore the Windows boot record if it can in the present state of 
Windows.  As far as I can see Windows will not format a disk where the 
boot record is in linux.

My computer is a pentium dual core with 1 gig of ram.

I'm not a complete novice but I am far from an expert.

I only use Windows about once a month for desktop publishing and optical 
character recognition.  I have Scribus but it looks like a very steep 
learning curve and may not do what I want.  The results from gocr 
require so much editing it is easier to retype the text.

	Sorry if this is off limits.  I can manage to open a reply to email and 
get on the internet (usually) but I'm not too hot on mailing lists.  I 
have read the write up and hope I am not stepping out of line.

Alaric