If I recall correctly, RedHat gives an option on an install startup to do a full
install vs. an update. A full install reformats the partition, wiping out all
the old stuff. This is the best way to do this.
To do what you ask (wipe out the linux partition), MAKE SURE ONLY YOUR linux
PARTITION(S) ARE MOUNTED, cd to /, and then run "rm -rf .* *". This will remove
EVERYTHING on the mounted partition(s) and then die a horrible death since there
is nothing left. I SERIOUSLY DOUBT THAT YOU REALLY WANT TO DO THIS.
$# THIS IS A VERY DANGEROUS THING TO DO
$ mount
$# verify only the partitions you want wiped clean are mounted, umount undesired
partitions
$ rm -rf .* *
Ok, enough shouting... One last disclaimer: I've never done the above because
there is no need to do it, but I've heard stories about people who did it
inadvertently. The stories usually go on about the poor slob spending the next
week trying to rebuild his system.
As a digression, rm -rf .* is really bad: this is the obvious way to remove the
hidden files in a subdirectory. DON'T DO IT! This matches ".." which is the
next directory level up: guess what happens then! If in doubt, always do a "ls
-rf .*" (or whatever) to see what you are about to delete and then edit the
command line to change the "ls" to "rm".
For fdisk, boot to windows and then do a "shutdown to MSDOS". This will get you
to the command line and fdisk will run. Windows does some amount of protection
and thus doesn't allow fdisk to run in a DOS window under Win95 (fdisk has to do
privileged operations).
gvb
____________________Reply Separator____________________
Subject: Uninstalling Linux to do a reinstall
Author: "John Johnson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: 8/31/98 5:36 PM
I am in the process of installing RedHat Linux 5.1 over a previous
installation, but I keep getting 'out of disk space' errors. Is there any
way to completely wipe the Linux partitions and start from scratch?
Also, I am unable to get fdisk to run from within Windows. Has anybody else
running a dual-boot system run into this? Is there a Windoze utility out
there that will allow me to recreate my extended DOS partition, so I can
start from ground zero with the Linux install? I have a 4GB hard drive on my
Inspiron 3200 which shipped with 2 2GB partitions. I can still access the
primary and Win98 just fine.
Thanks,
John
---
http://nts.ml.org
list archives http://nts.ml.org/inspiron/maillist.html
To unsubscribe send a message to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
List administrator:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Received: from esseye.si.com ([126.1.0.69]) by smtpgwy.si.com with SMTP
(IMA Internet Exchange 3.01 Enterprise) id 00084015; Mon, 31 Aug 98 17:32:04
-0400
Received: from checkers.si.com(really [126.1.8.254]) by esseye.si.com
via sendmail with esmtp
id <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
for <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; Mon, 31 Aug 1998 17:32:54 -0400 (EDT)
(Smail-3.2.0.94 1997-Apr-22 #16 built 1997-Oct-16)
Received: from challenger.si.com (challenger.si.com) by checkers.si.com
(Content Technologies SMTPRS 2.0.15) with SMTP id <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
for <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
Mon, 31 Aug 1998 17:32:41 -0400
Received: by challenger.si.com; id RAA05504; Mon, 31 Aug 1998 17:32:39 -0400
(EDT)
Received: from cx170227-a.elcjn1.sdca.home.com(24.4.68.58) by challenger.si.com
via smap (4.1)
id xma005484; Mon, 31 Aug 98 17:32:13 -0400
Received: (qmail 25652 invoked by uid 504); 31 Aug 1998 21:31:33 -0000
Mailing-List: contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]; run by ezmlm
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Delivered-To: mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Received: (qmail 25647 invoked from network); 31 Aug 1998 21:31:33 -0000
From: "John Johnson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Uninstalling Linux to do a reinstall
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1998 17:36:36 -0400
Message-Id: <000001bdd527$6e95e500$221056d1@jjohnson1>
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-Priority: 3 (Normal)
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook 8.5, Build 4.71.2173.0
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3155.0
Importance: Normal
Content-Type: text/plain;
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
---
http://nts.ml.org
list archives http://nts.ml.org/inspiron/maillist.html
To unsubscribe send a message to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
List administrator:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
