Format ubuntu

November 28th, 2005, 10:05 am

This is probably a newbie question but I just dont know how to simply because I've never done these things before. now, to my question:

How do I format my hard drive with ubuntu?

November 28th, 2005, 10:18 am

do you mean that you want to format your hard drive which has ubuntu on it? or you want to format your hard drive and put ubuntu on it? or that you have ubuntu installed on one hard drive and you want to use it to format another hard drive?

November 28th, 2005, 10:49 am

Oh, sorry if I was unclear. I want to format a hard drive I have ubuntu on. I want to delete ubuntu...

November 28th, 2005, 12:59 pm

you could go to http://www.bootdisk.com and download / create a windows 98 bootdisk, and then boot from the floppy and use that to format the hard drive. but that would format the drive and set it up with the FAT filesystem. or you could try a utility on this page: http://www.thefreecountry.org/security/ ... lete.shtml such as "Darik's Boot and Nuke"
what do you plan to use the hard drive for?

November 29th, 2005, 9:50 am

Im gonna install win 98 on it...

November 30th, 2005, 10:19 pm

yeah the fdisk on the 98 boot floppy should be able to do it. it wont recognize the partition but it will acknowledge it therefore letting you delete it and creating a FAT for 98.
At least in theory since ive never tried installing 98 on a linux HD (never will) but this was the case with xp. dont see why this would differ.

May 8th, 2007, 6:39 pm

I have a question..when First Installing Ubuntu..I manually did the disk partitioning ... what I want t know and I hope someone can answer this question is how do I get rid of UBUNTU ? and restore my Windows XP back to how it was? Do I have to format or what?

May 9th, 2007, 3:12 am

yes, you have to format.
if you want to COMPLETELY remove ubuntu, then just boot to a windows xp install cd, delete your ubuntu partitions in there and create a partition (or partitions) for xp and just continue with the install.

my guess is thats what you want to do.. and thats the easiest way with the least amount of hassle. helpful?

[Lizzard]

May 9th, 2007, 8:49 am

None of my business kyro - but have you thought about a "dual boot"?
Say you have a 80 gig HDD. "Give" Windows 60 and UBUNTU 20 to play with?

May 10th, 2007, 5:03 pm

Hahaha I did..the problem is when ya have to select the way ya wanna format the HD..I chose to Manually do it..the last option.. nad i split the drive in half..half for windows and half for Linux but linux pretty much took over the whole drive... I was hoping to know if there is a way to remove ubuntu..and continue Using XP how I left it..without having to freshly install windows Xp completely....Please tell me im not screwed of all my data on XP? Or even If I do have to Format..is there a program that can rescue all the data that I had on win XP?

May 10th, 2007, 5:46 pm

eh, just restore the MBR for windows.

boot to the windows xp install cd, at the first menu press r to get into the recovery console & choose youre install of windows (it'll probably be the only option). then execute the following commands:
fixmbr
(you'll be prompted if you're sure, enter y)
fixboot
(again, you'll be prompted & press y)
now reboot and you should be able to boot into windows w/o a problem.
once in windows, right click on my computer > manager. in the tree menu on the left click on disk management and continue to delete the ubuntu partitions.

May 11th, 2007, 11:43 am

Alrighty thanks....

May 12th, 2007, 4:37 pm

What if my recovery Option is Automated cus i have win xp pro? and how would i go on about doing all of this?

May 12th, 2007, 11:54 pm

i'm pretty sure the only reason the recovery option would be automated is if the disk you had was a restore disk, probably from a manufacturer such as HP or Emachines or similar.
you have to make sure the disk is a windows xp install disk and not a restore disk from a computer manufacturer.

May 13th, 2007, 9:13 pm

no its a bootleg win xp..LOL either way..i decided to format and install win xp fresh...