I don’t want a linux distro inside another linux
I simply want to remove my old linux without loosing my windows and install another linux os on top of it…
Do i need to format for sure or can i just delete my old linux root partition and install on top of it…???
On deleting it shows me a free space there…
I didn’t do that but that’s a possibility right???
Also here is the output of “df -h” command
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda8 96G 13G 83G 14% /
devtmpfs 891M 16K 891M 1% /dev
tmpfs 903M 432K 903M 1% /dev/shm
tmpfs 903M 5.0M 898M 1% /run
tmpfs 903M 0 903M 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs 903M 5.0M 898M 1% /var/run
tmpfs 903M 5.0M 898M 1% /var/lock
/dev/sda9 70G 48G 22G 69% /home
This thread is quite hard to follow especially in the NNTP interface but I thought I’d try answering questions from the
OP. First thing I must stress is to back up all your data before you make any changes to your hard drive.
On 2015-11-24, titanjith <titanjith@no-mx.forums.microfocus.com> wrote:
> will it be safe to "format " the root partition …
Formatting a GNU/Linux root partition is fine so long as you are aware of the following:
- You don’t mind losing whatever OS/program files were on root.
- You stored no data on the root partition.
- Your hard drive may unbootable to any OS if GRUB2 2nd stage was installed on root.
You should already know whether any of these apply to your case. Issue 3 is only a problem if your unconfident repairing
Window’s Boot Management yourself and you don’t intend to reinstall a friendly GNU/Linux distribution that includes
GRUB2 with an os-prober to restore booting to all OSs on your hard drive.
> and what shall i do with my home partition and swap…
> DO i need to format them as well or simply replace it as such…
No. You don’t need to format them. If you intend to install GNU/Linux again then can go ahead specifying the
corresponding partitions as /home/ and /swap/. As a matter of policy I do format /home/ because my /home/ contains no
data and only comprises of symbolic links to devoted data partitions. If you do format /home/, remember you will lose
any data stored there.
> My question is still do i need to format my root partition and if i do
> format it will it cause my windows os to not to work…
Whenever you install a new GNU/Linux distribution, it is normal practice to install it on freshly formatted partition.
Will formatting /root/ cause your Windows not to work? No, so long as you bear in mind point 3 listed above.
> Please help…I didn’t still replaced my os’s…
Can I suggest if you want to try updating from openSUSE 13.1, first update to 13.2 before looking at Leap? You’re
clearly concerned about keeping your hard drive safe. But if you’ve backed up all your data, then there’s no reason to
be too apprehensive. The worst thing that can happen is that you need to repartition, reformat, and reinstall. No
install/upgrade is 100% safe (including in Windows) but program files are replaceable, your valuable data is not.
On 2015-11-25, titanjith <titanjith@no-mx.forums.microfocus.com> wrote:
> Do i need to format for sure or can i just delete my old linux root
> partition and install on top of it…???
If you are only updating (e.g. from 13.1-13.2) rather than (re)installing, then you shouldn’t format any partitions.
First of all thanks a lot for your reply…
And can you give additional details on step 3
Because i didn’t get it completely and if you can broad your support please look on some of my prevoius comments i had posted on fdisk -l and all
so you can get a good knowledge about my partition
Thank you
On 2015-11-25, titanjith <titanjith@no-mx.forums.microfocus.com> wrote:
> First of all thanks a lot for your reply…
Pleasure. It would be reassuring to hear your confirmation that you have already backed up all your data.
On 2015-11-25, titanjith <titanjith@no-mx.forums.microfocus.com> wrote:
> flymail;2739481 Wrote:
>> 3. Your hard drive may unbootable to any OS if GRUB2 2nd stage was
>> installed on root.
> And can you give additional details on step 3
Well I could, but would take up a lot of space to describe. I don’t think a forum post is the best place to discuss in
detail the differences between GPT and MBR partitioning, the different GRUB2 stages, or the differences between Windows
and GNU/Linux boot managers. Here, Google is your friend.
> Because i didn’t get it completely and if you can broad your support
> please look on some of my prevoius comments i had posted on fdisk -l and
> all so you can get a good knowledge about my partition
I see a lot of forum regulars get obsessed by requesting fdisk -l' from newcomers, the results of which are not usually particularly helpful especially since fdisk is deprecated by parted. You will notice those who _did_ request fdisk -l’
from you did not suddenly come back and hold your hand after you posted the results of `fdisk -l’. Perhaps a more useful
request is to output the results of the following…
sh-4.2$ su -
sh-4.2# for devsd in $(find /dev/sd* ! -name "*[0-9]"); do parted $devsd unit MiB print; done
sh-4.2# cat /etc/fstab | grep /dev/sd
sh-4.2# df -h | grep /dev/sd
sh-4.2# exit
…but in all honesty, knowing your partition layout wouldn’t be especially helpful recommending whether/where to
format, update, or install. What your partition table does tell me is that your hard drive is MBR-style and you have 4
partitions of a sizes that I require tedious arithmetic to evaluate. It seems root and home are sufficiently
large for a single GNU/Linux install however so life looks good.
However correct me if I’m wrong but all you seem to want to know is how to upgrade from 13.1 to Leap. The short answer
is `Don’t’ - according to official openSUSE guidance ( SDB:System upgrade - openSUSE Wiki ):
Do not skip a release when upgrading! Example: do not upgrade from 13.1 to 42.1. Instead, from 13.1 upgrade to 13.2,
then from 13.2 upgrade to 42.1.
… and the advantage of upgrading this way is that you don’t need need the format (or even know the arrangement) of
your partitions because the upgrading wizard looks after everything for you. If you on the other hand you want to
install openSUSE Leap from fresh, then it’s exactly the same as what you did for 13.1…
On 2015-11-25, titanjith <titanjith@no-mx.forums.microfocus.com> wrote:
> First of all thanks a lot for your reply…
Pleasure. It would be reassuring to hear your confirmation that you have already backed up all your data.
On 2015-11-25, titanjith <titanjith@no-mx.forums.microfocus.com> wrote:
> flymail;2739481 Wrote:
>> 3. Your hard drive may unbootable to any OS if GRUB2 2nd stage was
>> installed on root.
> And can you give additional details on step 3
Well I could, but would take up a lot of space to describe. I don’t think a forum post is the best place to discuss in
detail the differences between GPT and MBR partitioning, the different GRUB2 stages, or the differences between Windows
and GNU/Linux boot managers. Here, Google is your friend.
> Because i didn’t get it completely and if you can broad your support
> please look on some of my prevoius comments i had posted on fdisk -l and
> all so you can get a good knowledge about my partition
I see a lot of forum regulars and veterans seem to get obsessed with the autopilot-ceremony of requesting fdisk -l' from newcomers, the results of which are not usually particularly helpful especially since fdisk is deprecated by parted. You will notice those who _did_ request fdisk -l’ from you did not suddenly come back and hold your hand after
you posted the results of `fdisk -l’. Perhaps a more useful request is to output the results of the following…
sh-4.2$ su -
sh-4.2# for devsd in $(find /dev/sd* ! -name "*[0-9]"); do parted $devsd unit MiB print; done
sh-4.2# cat /etc/fstab | grep /dev/sd
sh-4.2# df -h | grep /dev/sd
sh-4.2# exit
…but in all honesty, knowing your partition layout wouldn’t be especially helpful recommending whether/where to
format, update, or install. What your partition table does tell me is that your hard drive is MBR-style and you have 4
GNU/Linux partitions of sizes that require tedious arithmetic to evaluate from `fdisk -l’. It seems root and home are
sufficiently large for a single GNU/Linux install however so life looks good.
However correct me if I’m wrong but all you seem to want to know is how to upgrade from 13.1 to Leap. The short answer
is `Don’t’ - according to official openSUSE guidance ( SDB:System upgrade - openSUSE Wiki ):
Do not skip a release when upgrading! Example: do not upgrade from 13.1 to 42.1. Instead, from 13.1 upgrade to 13.2,
then from 13.2 upgrade to 42.1.
… and the advantage of upgrading this way is that you don’t need need the format (or even know the arrangement) of
your partitions because the upgrading wizard looks after everything for you. If you on the other hand you want to
install openSUSE Leap from fresh, then it’s exactly the same as what you did for 13.1…
Well thanks again and here are my outputs…
code 1: for devsd in $(find /dev/sd* ! -name “*[0-9]”); do parted $devsd unit MiB print; done
Model: ATA WDC WD5000LPVX-7 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 476940MiB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos
Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 0.03MiB 99998MiB 99998MiB primary ntfs type=07
2 99998MiB 476930MiB 376931MiB extended boot, lba, type=0f
5 99998MiB 299995MiB 199997MiB logical ntfs type=07
6 299995MiB 300097MiB 102MiB logical ext4 type=83
7 300097MiB 304098MiB 4001MiB logical linux-swap(v1) type=82
8 304098MiB 404096MiB 99998MiB logical ext4 type=83
9 404096MiB 476930MiB 72834MiB logical ext4 type=83
code 2: cat /etc/fstab | grep /dev/sd
nothing happened
code 3: df -h | grep /dev/sd
/dev/sda8 96G 13G 83G 14% /
/dev/sda9 70G 48G 22G 69% /home
/dev/sda1 98G 86G 13G 88% /run/media/jith/266CF1FF6CF1C997
And i actually wanted to use another linux distro since i started using opensuse for a long time now…
So i want another completely different linux distro actaully…
So please guide me on this formatting disk problem …
As i was saying i don’t like to upgrade now …
All i want is another linux distro over my cuurent opensuse distro…
and my question is simple can i format my root partiion and give root for the new linux the same formatted partiotion and is ther any problem on doing so and if i did format my root partition will it be harmful to my current windows partition…
thanks …
On 2015-11-26, titanjith <titanjith@no-mx.forums.microfocus.com> wrote:
>
> Well thanks again and here are my outputs…
>
>
> code 1: for devsd in $(find /dev/sd* ! -name “*[0-9]”); do parted $devsd unit MiB print; done
>
> Model: ATA WDC WD5000LPVX-7 (scsi)
> Disk /dev/sda: 476940MiB
> Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
> Partition Table: msdos
>
> Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
> 1 0.03MiB 99998MiB 99998MiB primary ntfs type=07
> 2 99998MiB 476930MiB 376931MiB extended boot, lba, type=0f
> 5 99998MiB 299995MiB 199997MiB logical ntfs type=07
> 6 299995MiB 300097MiB 102MiB logical ext4 type=83
> 7 300097MiB 304098MiB 4001MiB logical linux-swap(v1) type=82
> 8 304098MiB 404096MiB 99998MiB logical ext4 type=83
> 9 404096MiB 476930MiB 72834MiB logical ext4 type=83
>
> And i actually wanted to use another linux distro since i started using
> opensuse for a long time now…
>
> So i want another completely different linux distro actaully…
>
> So please guide me on this formatting disk problem …
Well if you want to change GNU/Linux distribution, your optimal choice will depend on which distro you want to install.
For example, my preferred partitioning arrangements for openSUSE, Linux Mint, and Gentoo are very different. If you want
to keep the partition sizes and positions as they are and install a single new GNU/Linux distribution then you can
format sda6, sda7, sda8, and sda9 - but depending on which GNU/Linux distro you choose, formatting these partitions
should be offered by the installer.
Now you say I actually wanted to use another completely different linux', this thread has drifted off the topic of INSTALLING LEAP 42.1’. Since you also say `since I started using opensuse for a long time now’ it looks as if you never
intended to Leap 42.1. We are therefore not in the best position to help you and I suggest I seek help from the
corresponding forum for your chosen new GNU/Linux distribution.
No what i was saying is that…
I have a opensuse 13.1 linux distro now …and i want to move into leap.
But this forum was suggesting me on an update and inorder to do that as the forum says first i should update to 13.2
Which is not acceptable by me because i don’t care about upgradation i want a complete new linux distro.
so i asked if i could format my entire linux distro and install new linux distro (say leap 42.1) on replacing it.
Thus there won’t be any problem on upgradtiiona and all.
And my first priority on formatting was if i do foramat i don’t want my windows os to get lost.
so i want guidance on that…
I still want leap 42.1 because i love using opensuse…
but i don’t want to update to 13.2 first and then install 42.1
hope that’s clear
and thanks for the formatting part…
If you want completely new then just install and specify the partitions you wish to install to. You can keep you old home if you wish by telling the installer not to format home just mount it as /home
It is just a matter of taking control of the install. The installer lets you do just about anything you want
Install and specify you mean format root partition right or just simply deleting it???
either but you just reformat to erase what is there.
And i think i got the answer to my problem and can anyone just explain this solution more clearly
i provide the link to the video below…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlTgaWs9BD0
And he had done it the way i wanted(i think)
and can anyone explain me what this mbr and grub2 and all this stuff…
And i think its working by the video information and exactly the way i wanted.
and if it working please do tell me how to wipe my root partition…please…
Fine if you install in a legacy system. It one OS is EFI the other must be if you have any plans of chaining between them. The video is about LEGACY install ant that is fine if all OS’s are legacy installed. It is extremely important to under stand if all are using EFI or legacy. If you mix boot modes you will have problems.
So do you have an old legacy BIOS or a newer EFI BIOS??
If EFI is the current OS installed in legacy or EFI mode?
Install by booting the installer in the same mode as the installed OS to be certain that they match
If legacy then and only then does MBR come into play. Also it controls how you can set partitions…In EFI (GPT partitioning) you can have any number of primary partitions In the old legacy MS partitioning you can only have a max of 4 primary partitions one of which can be an extended partition which in turn can hold a large number of logical partitions.
You have a choice of where you install the grub code in legacy mode. You can install it to the MBR or you can install it to one of the primaries. If installed you still must have some boot code in the MBR this is generic or supplied by Windows (same difference). In that case you must have a boot flag on the partition you want to boot so that the code in the MBR can find the next stage of booting. So if the Linux boot (in most cases this the root partition) is in the extended you put the grub code to the extended. The grub code knows the next partition go to so it just needs to be at the beginning of a primary partition that holds the /boot directory.
You can put the grub code in the MBR (BTW MBR is in the first sector of the first track of the drive) because it knows where the /boot is it does not require a boot flag set on any partition.
If grub is in MBR some Windows updates may overwrite the MBR area and mess up Linux booting
If grub at the boot partition then some Windows update may change the boot flag and Linux won’t boot until you reset it to the Linux boot.
If all is installed to EFI mode then it is less likley but not impossible for Windows update to mess up the boot.
Note in all case Windows can and often does step on your preferred method of setting up your computer 
How would i know legacy or efi
I can boot with a dvd drive but not with a usb drive…(i think that is the problem of my usb)
and can you see anything about all this uefi legacy thing in the above posts where i put my partition stats.
And suggest me a solution please…
AND i think i use efi so what difference that makes…
will it be a problem if i format my root then
On 2015-11-29, titanjith <titanjith@no-mx.forums.microfocus.com> wrote:
> How would i know legacy or efi
When you boot into GNU/Linux, you can determine whether you have done so from EFI or Legacy BIOS using the following:
sh-4.2$ su -
sh-4.2# modprobe efivars
sh-4.2# ls /sys/firmware/efi/vars
sh-4.2# exit
The modprobe' should not return an error, and the ls’ should list your EFI vars. Otherwise you have booted from
Legacy BIOS.
I can boot with a dvd drive but not with a usb drive…(i think that is
the problem of my usb)
The openSUSE installer DVD allows users to boot from either EFI or Legacy BIOS, but you have choose (using your EFI/BIOS
selector) typically by hitting Delete' or F2’ during the POST at boot-up time.
> and can you see anything about all this uefi legacy thing in the above
> posts where i put my partition stats.
> And suggest me a solution please…
One step at a time. Let’s see if you’re booting in EFI or Legacy BIOS mode.