[bradoesch]

Hello,

I have Mankdrake Linux 8.2 installed on my system. A little while ago, holding the option key on startup didn't give me the option of booting into Linux, and I've also lost the ability to choose Linux as a startup choice when the computer boots. It used to flash an orange screen, then give me a choice of Mac OS or Linux. Anyway, if this problem can't be fixed, I'd like to format the Linux partion as HFS+, or anything that I can use with Mac OS. I'm runnong low on space, and I'd like to use it for something (Linux or free space.) Thanks for your help,


Brad

[smic]

okay
im not to sure on the mandrake disk, but with linuxppc, and yellowdog you can delete/reformat partitions to hfs, and then exit the installer
then boot into macos and initailize them as hfs+ or whatever

should be the same with mandrake

just make sure the partitons are linux ones when you reformat/delete them

also sometimes it messes up the partition table when you do it
like a couple of times ive done it it has 2 partions that are the same and it sees them as seperate, but one is real and i think one is fake

sometimes it works, some times it messes it up, so be careful

dont try to join the linux partions into one, that most likely will mess the partion table up

[bradoesch]

Originally posted by smic:
okay
im not to sure on the mandrake disk, but with linuxppc, and yellowdog you can delete/reformat partitions to hfs, and then exit the installer
then boot into macos and initailize them as hfs+ or whatever

should be the same with mandrake

just make sure the partitons are linux ones when you reformat/delete them

also sometimes it messes up the partition table when you do it
like a couple of times ive done it it has 2 partions that are the same and it sees them as seperate, but one is real and i think one is fake

sometimes it works, some times it messes it up, so be careful

dont try to join the linux partions into one, that most likely will mess the partion table up

I can get into the installer, but whenever I get to the partitioning stage, it gives me some error about the bootstrap partition or something, I can't get any further. But, I can do a 'rescue' boot, and I can boot from the CD and access my files (using the 'chroot /mnt' command.) Is there any way I can format the disk as HFS from the command line?

Thanks,

Brad

[smic]

i dont know how, but im sure you can use pdisk with the command line, if you can access your files in linux i think you can find in in /sbin, not to sure, and just do a "man" on it to see if you can

[bradoesch]

Originally posted by smic:
i dont know how, but im sure you can use pdisk with the command line, if you can access your files in linux i think you can find in in /sbin, not to sure, and just do a "man" on it to see if you can

That was just the help I needed! I deleted my swap, bootstrap and main partition and then made a new HFS partition in their place. I thought that FDISK for DOS was a little bit difficult to use, but PDISK is much more interesting! Luckily everything worked out fine. Thanks a lot for your help!


Brad

[smic]

sweet, i dont know why i never thought of that sooner

[BLAZE_MkIV]

I bought a copy of linucPPC a while back and it came with a Mac version of PDISK that has been most helpful.

[bradoesch]

I noticed that OS X also has the pdisk command. Can it see Linux partitions too? Just kinda wondering. . .


Brad

[smic]

looks like it
i never noticed before, now that is awsome, im gonna go play with it now

[smic]

looks like pdisk will work for that in osx, im gonna try out later gettin my linux partiions back, since i dont use them that much anymore