Reclaiming HD after Linux Dual Boot Install

[Digital.K]

I installed Ubuntu linux on a 60 gig drive with Windows XP and I have since aquired another computer for linux . My question, is how can I reclaim the 30 gig of hd space for Windows? I tried a reformat, but its still showing only 30 gigs. Any help appreciated.

[Colin-uk Veteran]

you can usually format it through computer managment..

usually when you install a linux distro, it creates a swap drive so you may need to delete both and merge them as one drive and then format it..

[markwolfe Veteran]

http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/R...-uninstall.html

[Shadrack]

Ok. First of all, you will need to "fix" your master boot record. You can do so by inserting the Windows XP disc and letting it boot off of it. Go into recovery mode (press F2 at some point when prompted), and run the program fixmbr with the appropriate options.

Then when you are in windows XP, goto the "Computer Mangement" in "Administrative Tools" (from the Control Panel), and then to Disk Management under Storage.

You should see some "(Unknown Partition)" that indicate Linux partitions. Delete them, and re-allocate that space to either FAT32 or NTFS (I would recommend NTFS, as it has given me less hassle then FAT32). Assign the new partition a drive letter, and there you have it.

If you are wanting to combine that space with another partition, you will either have to back everything up and reformat the entire harddrive, or use a 3rd party application like Partition Magic.

I really recommend that you leave you hard drive partitioned for 2 reasons:

1. you may want to reinstall Linux, or some other OS. It can be a pain to reclaim that space once it has been combined with your Windows "system" partition.

2. If ever your windows "system" partition gets corrupt or something happens where you need to re-install Windows, it makes it so much easier and less of a hassle to backup your files when you have a seperate partition.

I generally have my "Documents and Settings" folder on a different partition. But now I'm really leaving the scope of this forum.

good luck

-nic