[ltp] Re-install default OS on a specified partition disk

[Ayaz Ahmed Khan]

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Christopher Sawtell typed:

>> Ayaz Ahmed Khan wrote:
>>> IIRC, Windows will install only if a partition its fdisk utility can
>>> see exsits.  It won't touch any of the existing Linux partitions.
>>
> I would not make that assumption!!!  I installed Linux on to all the
> disk except the Windows backup area and then wanted to re-install
> Windows. I made a 5GB primary partition for Windows as a labeled as
> FAT32, but without a filesystem, and proceeded to extract Windows
> using the "Restore to Factory ..." icon. The install process said
> that the C/H/S on my disk was incorrect and offered to change
> it. Stupidly I said 'Yes', The effect of that was that the whole
> disk setup was changed and the Linux partitions were altered so that
> they overlapped by one sector. I checked before going further, and
> realized that it was going to be 'one of those days'.
>
> So the moral of the story is BACK-UP everything important!!!

Oh, the dreaded C/H/S values issue.  I had nearly forgotten that.  I'm
inexperienced when it comes to doing ``restore-to-factory'' type
Windows re-installations.  I've only ever done complete installations
of Windows from bootable CDs;  out of a little of my experience and of
the experiences of others around at my place, a complete installation
of Windows on a disk with existing GNU/Linux OSs has never crapped out
- -- except for overwriting the MBR.

- -- 
Ayaz Ahmed Khan, unixforge.org/~ayaz/

"It is always the best policy to tell the truth, unless, of course,
 you are an exceptionally good liar."
                -- Jerome K. Jerome
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