Re: How to delete all partitions for a complete reinstall

Hi, Tod,

Thanks again. The hidden partition is totally hidden to me so far. I
think I need to give it up :]

I think this problem is solved. That is how to delete all partitions.
And dd rules.

On the other hand I am seeking for some other "tender way" (as i
suppose) to hide those "problematic" linux partitions to things like
"powerquest". I will open a new thread in this maillist. Basically the
question is whether i can make those linux partitions pretend to be
one big partition and hide all the internal structure, as well as the
"errors" to windows application.

Thanks and regards,
Kevin

On 8/18/06, Tod Merley <todbot88@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 8/17/06, ZHAO Keliang Kevin <cs_zkx@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi, Tod,

Thank you for your email. I spent quite a lot of hours in this matter.

I have succeeded to try "fixmbr" and to play with mbr in livecd as
well. Now i can fixmbr in windows and let xp manage mbr. I did some
search and figure out that "fixmbr", or "restoration console" can be
added to xp such that xp CD is still not needed.

What is disappointing is after "fixmbr", recovery CDs still don't
work. So far everything should be fine, except the recovery CDs, or
perhaps the "power quest" used by the recovery CDs which _found_ some
error in partitions and mess up the recovery procedure. Maybe it is
the laptop manufacturer who use such software that needs to be blamed.

So I guess if I return to my original goal -- erase the MBR, the CDs
should work then since there should be no more error. But I am
reluctant to.

Another possible way is to invoke the "hidden partition for recovery"
on my disk, which is a common trick for thinkpad and may not use
powerquest. But as you told, I lost the original OEM MBR so I always
fail to call it. On the other hand, I cannot see the parition in
either xp or ubuntu, therefore i don't know how to boot load it by
myself. Actually what i can see is i have 4-5 Gb missing. I am even
not sure if the partition is intact.

I am a bit off topic if I proceed. I guess the problem becomes how to
fix the partition errors found by the "powerquest". I use
partitionmagic under xp and it tells error 117, namely "Partition's
drive letter cannot be identified", then refuse to initialize. Obvious
such error is endurable as both xp and ubuntu works fine. But it will
prevent the recovery every time.

Oh well maybe i should eventually erase the MBR. But if I install two
systems again next time. I am afraid that I have to erase everything
again when i want to recovery in future.

That's really a great way to seperate windows and linux. Installing
either one should be OK.

hah.. Thanks again. Your name is so interesting!

Regards,
Kevin


On 8/17/06, Tod Merley <todbot88@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hi again Kevin,

With what I know now my first step would be to make a copy of the MBR
(in links above). And then another copy when whatever Linux/GRUB had
replaced it. I think my first step whenever working with an MBR from
now on will tend to by to copy whatever is there.

But my guess is that now our life will be a bit more interesting.

What do I think I know:

1. There is a serial number and marker in the XP-MBR which your OEM
might just be looking for. If so, you will need to talk with your
OEM.

2. If your old XP MBR is really forever lost I would be tempted to try
the Ultimate Boot CD's XP MBR repair ( http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
). I have actually had a pretty good ride whenever I have used it but
I find it scary. I doubt that serial numbers will match the original
but the parser may still be satisfied. Remember to have a copy of
your old MBR, and the next 63 sectors at least as well, on hand. I
mean 1. The 512 byte MBR - and - 2. The first 63 512 byte sectors
(separate files).

3. You could purchase a personal version of XP (talk with your OEM first!!).

4. More reading on the XP Linux dual boot may uncover something.

I chose "todbot" because it is visually symmetrical "you can fold it
upon itself and it stays the same. Originally I wanted "8todbot8" but
no one allows preceding numbers so I compromised with "todbot88"
(visually symmetrical within letters then numbers).

Good hunting and please tell me how it all comes out. I am putting
together a "Boot Camp" presentation and this is very much an important
set of boot issues.

Thanks!!!

Tod

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Kevin ZHAO Keliang
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Hong Kong University of Science & Technology

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Hi again Kevin!

You have probably already found this information but these links
helped me to understand what you are trying to do:

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Rescue_and_Recovery

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Predesktop_Area

I did not read all carefully. There may be enough there to do what
you wish. A couple of other possibilities:

http://freshmeat.net/projects/g4l/

http://www.fedoraforum.org/forum/showthread.php?t=76940

How about a separate hard drive. Here I can obtain a 60GB USB drive
for about $60-US. I have also seen people using IDE-to-USB kits. The
idea is to set the BIOS to prefer the USB booted disk and connect it
when you want to see Linux.

Eventually, I hope to have my usual Linux up (Presently Ubunut Dapper)
and have several other OSs (XP, SUSE, FC5, Solaris) available via hot
Virtual Machine. Probably not this year. VMware could do it now, Xen
has a ways to go.

Have fun!

Tod

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--
Kevin ZHAO Keliang
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Hong Kong University of Science & Technology

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