Delete linux

[noddoh]

Hello, well situation is I have 3 drives, 1st SSD windows, 2nd SSD allocated for ubuntu, 3rd HDD debian (only OS nothing else). Actually I have around 20 drives they all NTFS and I want to switch from win to linux completely. As I understood linux can see and work with NTFS - ok it's fine. So question is how to delete debian from 3rd drive and prepare file system for server needs (like nodes). I found some guides, mostly very old and they looks scarry. All of them suggesting delete linux using windows cmd and some strange commands to fix BIOS issues with auto loading or reinstalling windows to fix that. I don't believe it could going that scenario. I thought there is a way to load from debian, type in some self destruction command and thats it. I want to do it clean, instead of spending days trying to understand why this old guide didn't work well for me

Also question about file system, like I got 20 drives they are NTFS and I won't touch them. But if I will setup new drives, which file system I have to use for them and how to do it? Is it fine to store files outside of linux file system, like programms will be working fine if they request files from NTFS drives?

 

[Brickwizard]

Welcome to the forums,
firstly, Linux can see your files and folders , and read them from your Windows system, BUT windows cannot normally see Linux files and folders that is because the default file system for Linux is EXT4, you can change this at installation stage by selecting NTFS or FATS file systems [but I do not consider them as secure.]

Now I am a hardware man, so I can't help with your server problem, but to make it easier for our server experts to find your question, I suggest you edit the title of your first post to read delete Linux to set up server, help needed

 

[LorenDB]

I suggest booting Ubuntu from a thumb drive and using the GParted software that comes preinstalled to delete and create partitions as needed.

For your second question, yes, Linux works fine with NTFS, but with one caveat: make sure you are using a distribution with Linux kernel 5.15 or higher. If you're not sure what to pick, I'd recommend openSUSE Tumbleweed, since it has the latest kernel and is easy to use.

The reason for this kernel version requirement is that recently, the NTFS driver code was updated to be much better than it previously was.

 

[Yash Deshpande]

Hello, well situation is I have 3 drives, 1st SSD windows, 2nd SSD allocated for ubuntu, 3rd HDD debian (only OS nothing else). Actually I have around 20 drives they all NTFS and I want to switch from win to linux completely. As I understood linux can see and work with NTFS - ok it's fine. So question is how to delete debian from 3rd drive and prepare file system for server needs (like nodes). I found some guides, mostly very old and they looks scarry. All of them suggesting delete linux using windows cmd and some strange commands to fix BIOS issues with auto loading or reinstalling windows to fix that. I don't believe it could going that scenario. I thought there is a way to load from debian, type in some self destruction command and thats it. I want to do it clean, instead of spending days trying to understand why this old guide didn't work well for me

Hello, recently I have tried changing different distributions of Linux and I might try to answer your question, that is,
doing it in a clean way.

=> While cleaning my installation of Linux, (I have Windows and Linux multi-booted)
a) First step I did was changing the boot order using the command:

sudo efibootmgr

(This Boot Order can also probably be changed from the bios, but in my case it was not possible and perhaps this was my only option.)

If the installation to be deleted is first in the boot order, then I suggest lowering it and put (in your case) the Ubuntu install first.

This can be done using:

sudo efibootmgr -o 0000,0001________

-> where the numbers correspond to the entries in efibootmgr
(Note: Putting Windows first will cause, system booting directly into windows)

You can also delete the boot entries of the installations you want to get rid of (or if there is some other clutter too) but be careful while doing so.

Detailed information about all this can be found here: boot manager

b) Next step is to format the partitions. I used GParted to do this:

gparted-website

You can boot a live usb with GParted flashed in it or use your Ubuntu Installation and install gparted in it:

sudo apt-get install gparted

Note: From here we are going to format the partions, be careful while deleting anything because this may cause DATA LOSS . Backup or transfer files you want from the installations you want to delete.
(Windows install partition also contains user folders like downloads, documents etc).

a guide on using GParted: youtube-video

With this you can clear the Debian install by formatting that drive/partition in which it is installed and now that drive is cleaned up.
In Similar way you can also delete the partition with the windows install, that is, the C-Drive, by which it is known as.
Now you will be left with only Ubuntu installation in your system

Also question about file system, like I got 20 drives they are NTFS and I won't touch them. But if I will setup new drives, which file system I have to use for them and how to do it? Is it fine to store files outside of linux file system,

NOTE: Reformatting Partitions will delete the data
(In my case)
Since I don’t want to duplicate my data, I decided to use an NTFS partition on my SSD (other than OS installations), common to both windows and linux. I use this to store general data.
Since windows does not support ext4 format, while Linux can handle NTFS, using an NTFS partition, it is possible to have a common partition.
Though you need to mount the partitions in linux.

But if I will setup new drives, which file system I have to use for them and how to do it? Is it fine to store files outside of linux file system, like programms will be working fine if they request files from NTFS drives?

My guess about the last part is that it will be fine for programs to access the NTFS partitions outside of Linux filesystem as long as they are properly mounted and there are no unknown obstacles such as encryption etc.