# Dban = Remove backup partition,Windows Xp Home,Ubuntu



## Helmetscouter (Sep 16, 2007)

So I have 3 partitions on here (4 if you count a 15 gig parition I never used).

I heard Dban is a great way to reformat the whole drive and I was wondering will it remove all of that so I can put it a fresh copy of Windows Pro? (32 Bit)

Thanks.


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## saikee (Jun 11, 2004)

If you want to change the boundaries of partitions you use a "resizing" tool.

For MS Windoze systems it would be proprietary system like Partition Magic.

For Linux systems there are free Parted Magic and Gparted which offer Live CD.

It doesn't appear to me that you need to reformat the drive at all as you have only 4 partitions and one is unused. Thus you can use the last one for the installation of another Windows.

In using Linux's tool you just drag the partition boundaries to reduce space on one and expand the other. A good practice is to one task at a time, check the result before moving on to another task. It pays to use the latest version of the software too.


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## disp (Sep 19, 2007)

if you want to use more than 4 primarys on one hard drive you will need a third party bootmanager and partition editor try this this one is a free trial and very compact

you can immediately remove any or all existing partitions and set a new single partition and pre-format prior to install

you dont even need to install the software to the hard drive for maintenance only
just create the cd (need a cd-rw drive) using the makedisk util in the download and boot 
click cancel to enter maintenance mode 
use part work to clear the hard drive and create a new partition
format fat32 or ntfs and be sure to view mbr and set the new part active
reboot remove the cd and insert your install media

gl


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## saikee (Jun 11, 2004)

I would be disappointed if a Linux user has to go outside Linux for a boot loader.

There is nothing more powerful and flexible than Grub which can boot internal or external hard disk, CD or DVD , floppy or USB pen drives. If you install 200 OS One Grub can boot all of them.

You can boot an OS manually or automatically by Grub and arrange the OS to be booted even before you install it.

There is no PC system Grub cannot boot even if you install all of them together.

Just don't send a boy to do a man's job.


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## disp (Sep 19, 2007)

indeed grub2 rules

however i thought he was refering to removing linux/linux-utils to do a clean install of windows without anything else on the system

So I have 3 partitions on here (4 if you count a 15 gig parition I never used).

I heard Dban is a great way to reformat the whole drive and I was wondering will it remove all of that so I can put it a fresh copy of Windows Pro? (32 Bit)​
and when deconfiguring linux/unix to a windows-only system i have found the terabyteunlimited bootit cd to be excellently efficient for quick fixes to an ntfs only volume (as well as prepping a hard drive for linux yet keeping os.img files for emergency restore should the user desire to revert from linux)

also alot of folks have yet to make the transition so want to stay with windows and i have to service their machines without relying on linux/unix tools... again the bootitng disk serves as a very compact means of quickly manipulating partition sizes and boot options as well as selective boot option menus for multiple users as well as allowing/denying maintenance to the hard drives for certain users etc...

when you use all kinds of computers you use all kinds of tools

still i would agree with you that for linux based boxes grub2 is the best choice

appreciate your fervor though hehheh
:up:

to be honest i cant say exactly what os or complang bootit ng is written in in that it is merely a utility not an os and is designed to configure both native linux bsd solaris indeo and several many other os hd formats... its just a tool


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## saikee (Jun 11, 2004)

I have nothing against a 3rd party boot loader and the specification of Bootit NG looks OK for handling large number of system. The only disadvantage it has is requiring a partition for its own residence.

Grub2 has not been used on any of the major distros as far as I am aware. The current legacy Grub 0.97 is the one widely used and Solaris has a enhanced verion based on 0.95 version.

The power of Grub, without the need to attached to an operating system (although its standard usage is packaged inside a Linux), is that it can be put on a floppy or a USB pen drive or a CD to boot any system manually, even without any prior knowledge of what are the systems inside. As such Grub is an mini operating system with a built-in command interpretor.

Grub is ignored by a lot of users because it is a text mode program and cannot be clicked. Most users never stretch Grub.


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## disp (Sep 19, 2007)

same same for sure

btw loved your dd cloning tutorial on just linux and many of the other threads i have read of yours

very informative to me in everyway

thanks so much


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