Formatting hd

[Kubaceski]

Hi all. This will sound stupid. I installed Mint on an XP system of mine, and I'd like to stick with the Mint lInux. I would also like to clean up my hd and make some more usable space. I need to know if I can erase all info on my hd other than the linux Mint, or how to simply erase the entire hd and re-install Mint. Thanks for your help.

[Husse]

Welcome to Mint Kubaceski
Am I right when I think you only want Mint on the drive?
I'll use that assumption in my answer.
There are two ways
Reinstall and use the entire disk, probably the best
Or reuse the current partitioning scheme
As you had XP before Mint if you make one partition this would mean that Mint is placed in the middle of the partition - no good. So I suggest that you keep the partitions and make the XP partition into a separate partition for home - just format it with ext3. Open Gparted to do the formatting and then follow the wiki
http://www.linuxmint.com/wiki/index.php ... _partition

[peatrap]

If you want to cleanup the hard drive for a new install wipe the hard drive, this will remove everything, make sure that this is what you want, a fresh install on a wiped disk pretty much insures a clean install. Most hard drive makers provide the programs you need at their web page.

[Husse]

Well, know I'm going to be a bit rude.
peatrap if you don't know what you're talking about - shut up!
There is no need what so ever to wipe the drive!!
Unless you intend to sell the drive that's nonsense
It's enough to format the partition that's to be reused. All the data is still there until you start writing to the disk, but it's unavailable for everything except software designed to rescue it.
To wipe the drive is (more than) overkill in (almost) all situations except when you want to sell the disk.