New and need help

Ok I am new here this is sorta software& hardware related I made two partitions on my harddrive so I could install linux but I changed my mind and I am wondering 1. When I rformat the partition in windows it says all data on this disk will be lost is it talk about the partition or the disk itself? Also is their anyway to combine the partitions without losing all my data?

PartitionMagic would probably work since it recognizes Fat32, NTFS and Linux partitions. How are you formatting the partition and what OS are you using as your primary?

I really haven't partitioned in forever, so I'm sure someone else may have a better application and/or advice.

Normally on a WinXP install you can pick and choose which partition to format if it detects more than one partition.

It will erase all the data on that partition.

Combine the partitions using Acronis Disk Director. It is much better then Partition Magic IMO.

See? I knew someone would have a better solution, I hit the mark on the head.

Like I said, I haven't messed with partitioning in ages, hence the PartitionMagic...like Ver. 2 at that.

I don't mess with partitions much either. When I'm dealing with a large single drive I just make two seperate partitions. One for storage and the other for everything else. When dealing with more then one drive or a small drive, I don't even bother with multiple partitions.

Likewise, but I typically use fdisk beore an install anyway.

when i bought my laptop it was the same 2 20gb parts. Get partition magic and you can combine them in no time with no risk to data (well almost theres always a chance)

Whenever you are dealing with resizing, combining or doing anything else similar to partitions, you risk loosing your data. That is why it is critical to back up your important data before doing so. However, you should be doing this regularly anyway. I use Acronis True Image for backups and then backup stuff I cannot afford to loose to multiple places.