deleting suse from hard drive

[mikearzan]

Hello

I would like to know how i will be able to delete suse completely from my toshiba hard drive and make the hard drive %100 clean and clear.

I have nothing on my toshiba laptop now but suse ,(when i was installing suse on my laptop ,in the process of partitioning ,i deleted my windows xp from the hard drive by mistake).

The reason that i want to remove everything is ,the operating system that i have now has so much problems that i don't even want to fix them and i think it is better to clear everything and start with a fresh install.

I already tried to do it with the same original dvd to make a fresh install,but i could not do it because i have a lot of frozen windows on my desktop which i really can not do anything about them.


I tried failsafe which did not take me anywhere,tried system rescue and result was the same and tried some other things that i don't remeber anymore.

Now please let me know how i can delete everything from my hard drive in order to make a new install from scratch all over again.

thanks.mike

[smpoole7]

My recommendation, if you can get to another machine with Internet access, is to download the GParted boot disk (GParted -- Download).

I assume you know how to use a partition editor; if not, then find a computer-literate friend to help. Assuming you do, download the ISO, burn to CD, then boot onto it. You can easily delete all partitions on the hard drive, leaving it clean and blank.

[foresthill]

If you have a Windows 2000 or XP cd, boot from that, and delete all partitions from there. If you don't want to install Windows, eject the CD or hit your power button after the partitions are deleted but before Windows begins installing.

[smpoole7]

The Windows XP FDISK program won't delete all partition types -- especially not strictly-'nix like ext3 and reiserfs. It'll say, "unknown partition type" and refuse.

[geoffro]

The XP boot cd will delete Linux partitions like ext3 and reiserfs don it loads of times

/Geoff

Originally Posted by smpoole7

The Windows XP FDISK program won't delete all partition types -- especially not strictly-'nix like ext3 and reiserfs. It'll say, "unknown partition type" and refuse.

[smpoole7]

Geoff,

If that's the case, I stand corrected. I seem to recall trying it with XP's fdisk less than a year ago, and I couldn't get it to work. But maybe I was wrong.

I know I had problems deleting 'nix partitions with older versions of Windows and just assumed that it was still a problem. I fell in love with that GParted boot CD and that's all I use nowadays.

[mikearzan]

Hi guys

thank you everybody for answering my question.

i just tried a windows xp boot cd to delete the hard drive as foresthill instructed,but after showing some beginning process which seemed to be clearing the hard drive,it stopped and said if you want to delete the xp press enter and or you want to repair press" R" and if you want to quit press f3.

when i tried the first option, i received the message that says because there is no windows xp present in hard drive ,the process will stop now and then asked me to push f3 to exit .

The second option which was involving pressing "R" to repair the windows,showed the exact same answere ,and asked me to exit .so, obviously the xp cd is an option if you have a windows partition present ,in my case that i do not have it ,i think it will not work.

I also burned a live cd from Gparted and tried that, but to be honest, that one is too advanced for me and has so many different options for partitioning ,that i do not understand it at all.

Is there any other solution for somebody like me who understands nothing from linux and suse and the related partitions?

[zak89]

If you are planning on reinstalling openSUSE (or almost any modern linux distro), then you can use the installer to delete existing partitions and reformat the hard drive prior to installation. No tricks necessary.

[mikearzan]

Dear friend

may be my explanation was not clear enough on my previous post,i can not get the original linux dvd or installer to do anything on the laptop,i have about 5 frozen windows on my desktop that won't go away.the firefox is there without having any toolbar with "x" on it so i can click it away and so are the desktop configration window and the rest of them and when i boot from the original dvd and press repair the system , just rolls back to the same beginning spot all over again without doing anything.

now, if you know any other way around this problem that i can use the original installer and do a fresh install,i will be glad to follow your instructions.

thanks.mike

[smpoole7]

Originally Posted by mikearzan

Dear friend

may be my explanation was not clear enough on my previous post,i can not get the original linux dvd or installer to do anything on the laptop,i have about 5 frozen windows on my desktop that won't go away.the firefox is there without having any toolbar with "x" on it ...

I don't understand that paragraph. You say that you cannot get the "original linux dvd" to "do anything on the laptop." Does that mean that the laptop totally refuses to boot onto that DVD? Does it hang during the boot?

What's puzzling me is the "5 frozen windows" and "firefox" thing. If they're appearing, that sounds like you're making it into the desktop, but that the desktop just isn't working. This is obviously when you're NOT booting onto the install DVD, right?

If I understand you, try this:

1. Insert the DVD and reboot the machine. If you have to, hold down the power button for about 10 seconds until the computer is forced to turn off, then turn it back on.

2. When the DVD boot menu appears, select "Installation," *not* "boot from hard disk."

3. Tell the installer that you want to do a new installation. Don't try repair or upgrade.

4. When the first summary screen appears with a line called "partitioning," click that line for the details. Click on each partition that's listed and "edit" it. Make SURE that the "Format" option is checked for each partition that offers that option.

5. Proceed, finish the install and see what happens.

You may have a hardware problem. How old is the laptop?