Hay,

Yesterday I wanted to convert an ntfs partition into EXT3. 2 of my systems are running triple boot (jaunty, open suse and xp) When I started with Linux I had the largest data partitions formatted as fat 32 so both systems could approach them. Later on, I formatted them as ntfs . Now I use Linux almost exclusively. I therefore intend to format data partitions to EXT3 (no defragmentation like ntfs less movements of the read head) of course after backing up all files.
Situation on PC in question:
sda1: / jaunty
sda2: extended: boot (grub opensuse)
sda5: swap
sda6: / home jaunty
sda7: opensuse 11.1
sda8: ntfs partition
sda8 was so formatted (with jaunty in gparted) to EXT3 file after safeguarded.
Also modified: /etc/fstab
*
Code:

/ dev/sda8 / home / guy / data ext3 defaults 0 0

After the reboot the system could not find any boot device, apparently the opensuse grub had disappeared. With the jaunty livecd of ubuntu I put back grub to hd0 and the system returned to normal boot, although with menu.lst jaunty.
Is this normal if one formats a partition the boot loader also disappears or was it because grub was installed on sda2 (partition extend.) Open Suse was installed last, but grub cannot be installed on a logical drive.


The point of this story is that I want to do the same with my other systems (convert large data partitions from ntfs to EXT3) eg If grub is installed on sda1 and I format a partition in sdb2 (bv.sdb7) is something similar to be expercted ?

Sorry if Imake some language mistakes, I am used speaking Dutch