Formatting linux partition

[Eric D.]

on 8/5/02 18:38, Timothy A. Seufert at tas@mindspring.com wrote:

> At 4:14 PM -0400 5/8/02, Eric D. wrote:
>> Hello ya'll, is there any way to get a formerly linux partition reformatted
>> as HFS?
> 
> Yes.
> 
> Using pdisk, delete that partition.  Then create it again, using the
> same base and length.  When you recreate it, use the uppercase C
> "create partition" command instead of the normal lowercase c.  The
> uppercase option lets you specify the partition type (lowercase c
> will always create partitions as "Apple_UNIX_SVR2", which is what you
> want for Linux partitions).  Enter "Apple_HFS" (without the quotes)
> as the type, and anything you like for the name.
> 
> At this point it's really still a Linux partition, it's just now
> marked as HFS.  But that's OK.  Just boot MacOS.  MacOS will try to
> mount the partition because its type signature in the partition table
> is Apple_HFS, discover that the HFS magic numbers aren't present at
> the beginning of the partition, and then ask you if you want to
> format or eject the unreadable disk.  Tell it to format, select HFS
> or HFS+ as you like, and you should be good to go.

Now my next question is:

How do I get to pdisk? I assume I have to be in YDL to run the app, but I
doubt that I will be allowed to format the boot partition.

I have the YDL 2.1 and 2.2 Install CDs and tried booting the 2.1 CD but it
wouldn't let me (failed with some error & said it would restart in 180
seconds (& I wasn't able to command-control-power to restart for the first
time ever (B&W G3, ADB keyboard)... I thought com-ctrl-pwr was a hardware
thing and didn't think software could over-ride it)).

I've mangled the Linux partition (1536 MB) with the installer (trying to
trick it into formatting me one big boot partition). Should I re-install YDL
and try deleting the partition that way (using your pdisk instructions)?

Thanks for all your help, Eric.