8 replies to this topic

[agnl666]

I created a new partition on my hard drive though it is currently raw. The problem I have is that when I attempt to format the hard drive I may only format it as NTFS or FAT or something. Thus I tried to install gparted and couldn't get that to work. I was wondering, does gparted run on windows 7? and how would I go about installing it/ could I get a link or two. Thank you.

[Alexander]

The only safe way would be to not mount any partition (i.e. Windows 7) while touching the harddrive, you can burn GPARTED from a .iso here:
GParted -- Download (I'm sure there's instructions on the site)

Once you restart your computer and load the limited OS with gparted bootable cd, you can format the raw partition to ext3 or what you wish.

[dbug]

Why do you need to create an ext3 partition from Windows ? if you have some type of dual boot between Windows and Linux, you can boot to Linux and format from there. If you do not use Linux at all, then I don't see the need to create an ext3 partition from Windows. You won't be able to access it anyway because Windows doesn't support it (there are some third party drivers that allow access to these partitions, but I trust them very little, and I'm not sure if they even work in Windows 7).

[agnl666]

I want to install linux (specifically ubuntu) though to do this I need the partition formatted as ext3. Or could I format it as NTSF and install linux, then reformat it as ext3 and install linux? I don't completely understand how it works but is that possible?

[Alexander]

NTFS came in the Windows server NT era, although can be constrained to run with a Linux, it is not recommended. With the Ubuntu CD, you can partition your harddrive easily in the setup, basically you need to be careful, but the partitioner within can reformat the extra space into EXT3 format.

There's no need for GPARTED if you got the linux CD.

[dbug]

You can also install Ubuntu in a virtual machine. This way you do not need a dual boot system and you can have both operating systems running at the same time.

[agnl666]

k. thank you guys. I got the install cd for ubuntu. i already partitioned the drive and formatted as ntsf though it will allow me to reformat during installation right?

[dbug]

The installation process allows you to reformat or even repartition if you want.

[agnl666]

hey, i wanted to say thank you to nullw0rm and dbug. i got linux installed this morning and i'm psyched. thank you for all the help : )