Guest billgnu Posted December 11, 2005 Report Share Posted December 11, 2005 i have been using mandrake from 1 yr.i have installed it 3-4 times.unfortunately suppose i want to start from scratch or when my linux gets corrupted,i need to install it again.But during installation why does it always formats hard drive again and again when my /,swap and /usr partitions are already ext2. i luv to install B) and start mandrake from scratch since i am a newbie,cant i skip that formatting part?i am afraid my hard drive will get corrupted due to it.or does linux have command like "format \q" as in windows when hdd is not physically formatted and just data is erased? plz help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted December 12, 2005 Report Share Posted December 12, 2005 You can do a "repair" by doing an upgrade. It will not ask to partition or formatg anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted December 12, 2005 Report Share Posted December 12, 2005 I think I remember that there was a checkbox asking for formatting of drives right after using the custom partitioning option in Mandriva. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted December 12, 2005 Report Share Posted December 12, 2005 Yes, there is a check box by default, so you can deselect it and it'll then not format it. Â At least I noticed this in 2006. Not sure about previous versions, never tried :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reiver_Fluffi Posted December 12, 2005 Report Share Posted December 12, 2005 Yes, there is a check box by default, so you can deselect it and it'll then not format it. At least I noticed this in 2006. Not sure about previous versions, never tried :P <{POST_SNAPBACK}>  It was there in 2005 as well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted December 12, 2005 Report Share Posted December 12, 2005 And in 10.0 and 10.1, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted December 12, 2005 Report Share Posted December 12, 2005 I've obviously always been doing clean installs :P Â The one and only time I didn't, was when I had a load of files I couldn't move, so I left it and then I noticed :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aRTee Posted December 12, 2005 Report Share Posted December 12, 2005 Note that this type of formatting is not low level and will not harm your hard drive (hardware), just the contents/digitally stored information. Â Actually, hard drives are designed to have information written and erased/rewritten many times, this is normal operation. A regular format just puts certain markers/blocks into place at required intervals within the partition. To the hardware, this is the same as any data write action, just as any file save. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilcal Posted December 12, 2005 Report Share Posted December 12, 2005 I almost consider playing around with different Linux Distros a hobby. I'm eager for the nest post on  http://www.distrowatch.com  so I can download this or that ISO, burn the CD and give it a whirl. Strange hobby.  One of the principle challenges you have when you do this is if there are still bits and bytes of whatever used to be on the HD the new OS your trying to load may in fact see it and do sometimes strange things. Especially if it sees something in the MBR (Main Boot Record). "Formating" does not always zero (literally) all of that out. Mandrake is no different. This is especially true when doing "upgrades".  I use two programs to ensure myself there is nothing left on the HD that will make the install of the next OS skidderish.  The free to download version of:  http://www.killdisk.com/  wipes a drive completely clean to zeros from bit one to bit last including the MBR. It takes awhile for big drives but you can rest assured that there is nothing left. I have never harmed a drive using this application.  I also use the Ranish Partition Manager (RPM)  http://www.ranish.com/part/  to identify whatever FAT and OS file structure a particular OS lays down on the HD. Using RPM I can then prepare a HD for either a single OS installation or up to 30 separate, discreet and bootable partitions.  Some Linux Distros treat the HD awfully. They insist on screwing up the MBR regardless of what you want it to do. I those cases you always have to wipe the HD first and the only OS you can put on the HD is the one your playing with at the time.  Mandriva 10.0 and newer are very moldable OS's in that you can pre-prepare a HD with ext3 and swap Linux partition(s) and install to that specific partitions without effecting any other partitions on the HD. This is an EXTREMELY valuable feature as it gives you the opportunity to Play with the same OS in multiple copies and set ups on the same HD. I wish all Linux OS' were the same.  Interestingly enough WinBlows XP Pro is also well behaved. You can install it to a NTFS partition and it will not screw with anything else on the HD. And even intermix it with Linux partitions on the same drive. Also once installed to one partition that partition can be bit copied to another of identical size for backup or testing. The Partition Manager in MCC is very usefull and well behaved.  Do note that Ubuntu, even though a very nice OS, is not so well behaved at install. It likes to hog the entire HD and screw with the MBR regardless of what you tell it to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted December 12, 2005 Report Share Posted December 12, 2005 I almost consider playing around with differentLinux Distros a hobby. I'm eager for the nest post on  http://www.distrowatch.com  so I can download this or that ISO, burn the CD and give it a whirl. Strange hobby. It's not really a strange hobby. I lost count on the distros that I tested... /me takes a look at the piles of CDs laying around... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reiver_Fluffi Posted December 12, 2005 Report Share Posted December 12, 2005 The free to download version of:Â http://www.killdisk.com/ Â wipes a drive completely clean to zeros from bit one to bit last including the MBR. It takes awhile for big drives but you can rest assured that there is nothing left. I have never harmed a drive using this application. Â I also use the Ranish Partition Manager (RPM) Â http://www.ranish.com/part/ Â to identify whatever FAT and OS file structure a particular OS lays down on the HD. Using RPM I can then prepare a HD for either a single OS installation or up to 30 separate, discreet and bootable partitions. Â <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Â Â Might be worth pointing out that Maxtor provides these utilities as a free download for use on their drives (man they were a godsend when I borked my winblows disk up big time, along with a generous FAT32 partition so Linux could be used to rescue the files....) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilcal Posted December 12, 2005 Report Share Posted December 12, 2005 me takes a look at the piles of CDs laying around... Have you been following the progression of Damn Small Linux? DSL. Â http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/ Â that one is absolutely fascinating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted December 12, 2005 Report Share Posted December 12, 2005 Have you been following the progression of Damn Small Linux?DSL. Â http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/ Â that one is absolutely fascinating. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yes. I always carry a copy of it around with me. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spinynorman Posted December 12, 2005 Report Share Posted December 12, 2005 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted December 12, 2005 Report Share Posted December 12, 2005 Ooops... sorry. Will shut up now. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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