Rearrange Boot after removing XP Dual Boot

[kendoori]

I am ready to reclaim the disk space that is currently being used by XP in my dualboot scenario. Per the Gparted scan below, my hard drive is currently being sequenced as sda1 (NTFS data only, which I mounted in Ubuntu and write my working documents to), sda2 (XP operating system/boot drive). Ubuntu is on sda3, with home on sda4. I'm currently running 9.10.

I would like to eliminate the contents of sda2, and migrate sda1 contents to ext4. Question is, what are the best steps. I have good backups of everything, and sync my NTFS data to a NAS.


http://www.tpchealthcare.com/transfer/Selection_001.png

My grub.cfg looks as follows (am running 1.97)



#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by /usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s /boot/grub/grubenv ]; then
have_grubenv=true
load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ ${prev_saved_entry} ]; then
saved_entry=${prev_saved_entry}
save_env saved_entry
prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
fi
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,3)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set ee494eac-b3a7-48f3-bfb2-2c0da4c74b34
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=640x480
insmod gfxterm
insmod vbe
if terminal_output gfxterm ; then true ; else
# For backward compatibility with versions of terminal.mod that don't
# understand terminal_output
terminal gfxterm
fi
fi
if [ ${recordfail} = 1 ]; then
set timeout=-1
else
set timeout=10
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=black/white
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-22-generic-pae" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
set quiet=1
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,3)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set ee494eac-b3a7-48f3-bfb2-2c0da4c74b34
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-22-generic-pae root=UUID=ee494eac-b3a7-48f3-bfb2-2c0da4c74b34 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-22-generic-pae
}
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-22-generic-pae (recovery mode)" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,3)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set ee494eac-b3a7-48f3-bfb2-2c0da4c74b34
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-22-generic-pae root=UUID=ee494eac-b3a7-48f3-bfb2-2c0da4c74b34 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-22-generic-pae
}
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-21-generic-pae" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
set quiet=1
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,3)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set ee494eac-b3a7-48f3-bfb2-2c0da4c74b34
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-21-generic-pae root=UUID=ee494eac-b3a7-48f3-bfb2-2c0da4c74b34 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-21-generic-pae
}
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-21-generic-pae (recovery mode)" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,3)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set ee494eac-b3a7-48f3-bfb2-2c0da4c74b34
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-21-generic-pae root=UUID=ee494eac-b3a7-48f3-bfb2-2c0da4c74b34 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-21-generic-pae
}
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-20-generic-pae" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
set quiet=1
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,3)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set ee494eac-b3a7-48f3-bfb2-2c0da4c74b34
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-20-generic-pae root=UUID=ee494eac-b3a7-48f3-bfb2-2c0da4c74b34 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-20-generic-pae
}
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-20-generic-pae (recovery mode)" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,3)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set ee494eac-b3a7-48f3-bfb2-2c0da4c74b34
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-20-generic-pae root=UUID=ee494eac-b3a7-48f3-bfb2-2c0da4c74b34 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-20-generic-pae
}
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-19-generic-pae" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
set quiet=1
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,3)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set ee494eac-b3a7-48f3-bfb2-2c0da4c74b34
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-19-generic-pae root=UUID=ee494eac-b3a7-48f3-bfb2-2c0da4c74b34 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-19-generic-pae
}
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-19-generic-pae (recovery mode)" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,3)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set ee494eac-b3a7-48f3-bfb2-2c0da4c74b34
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-19-generic-pae root=UUID=ee494eac-b3a7-48f3-bfb2-2c0da4c74b34 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-19-generic-pae
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry "Windows NT/2000/XP (on /dev/sda2)" {
insmod ntfs
set root=(hd0,2)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set aa60cdb060cd8413
drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
chainloader +1
}
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

[darkod]

I guess the thought process would go like:

- backup anything you need from XP
- copy all data from /dev/sda1, or make sure you double check you have it on external media or NAS, etc.

After you are happy your data is safe, boot ubuntu and:

- if media/DATA is getting mounted automatically, unmount it and disable the auto mount temporarily
- unmount /dev/sda2 if it's mounted
- open Gparted and delete /dev/sda2, then /dev/sda1, Apply the commands
- create new ext4 partition in their place, Apply the command
- make that new partition auto mount as media/DATA if you have that mount point used in other places in your system, if not, just mount it on different mount point if you like
- put the data back to the new /dev/sda1
- run sudo update-grub to get rid of the XP entry in grub menu

[kendoori]

sda2 has boot flag set in it right now. Once deleted, do I need to reflag a different partition as boot?

[darkod]

sda2 has boot flag set in it right now. Once deleted, do I need to reflag a different partition as boot?

The boot flag is used by windows bootloader in the windows boot process. Grub/Grub2 ignores it, as far as I know.

Since you will have only ubuntu after deleting XP, you don't need it. However, some people sometimes put the boot flag on the root partition (because grub2 config files are there). But I am pretty sure it's not used by grub at all.

[oldfred]

Linux does not use the boot flag. But there are a few BIOS that are windows centric. They will not let you boot unless it sees a boot flag on a primary partition as your window will not boot. I would put one on a primary partition just to be safe.

You can use gparted, right click on partition & manage flags, disk utility, or command line:
set boot flag on for sda2 (off on others) (-A partition number device)
sudo sfdisk -A2 /dev/sda

[kendoori]

Thanks to all, operation complete and successful. I'd kept the dual boot to XP as a fail safe, but I have working VirtualBox XP machines that cover me for that...