how do you reformat?

To reformat: install a system and the whole disc will get formatted.
External harddrive: what happens if you log in as root?
Peter

I do not have a cd drive to format a disk. And other ideas?

You don't have to format a disc. You have to burn a disc. But if you don't have CD drive, it will be difficult.
Peter

So how would I go about reformating my hard drive?

peter <email address hidden> wrote:

>Your question #69117 on Ubuntu changed:
>https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/69117
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
>peter proposed the following answer:
>You don't have to format a disc. You have to burn a disc. But if you don't have CD drive, it will be difficult.
>Peter
>
>--
>If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
>know that it is solved:
>https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/69117/+confirm?answer_id=2
>
>If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
>following page to enter your feedback:
>https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/69117
>
>You received this question notification because you are a direct
>subscriber of the question.

You will not create more space by reformatting. I assume that what you meant was that you want to repartition.
To check how your drive is being utilised, type the following command into a terminal window and post back here:

df -h

For your other question relating to your external drive, open a terminal and type:

sudo chown paul:paul -R /media/disk

that is assuming that your login name is paul. Then type:

sudo chmod -R 777 /media/disk

It would be helpful if you were to provide some details of your machine.

devshm 501M 12K 501M 1% /dev/shm
lrm 501M 1.9M 499M 1% /lib/modules/2.6.24-22-lpia/volatile
overflow 1.0M 132K 892K 13% /tmp
gvfs-fuse-daemon 3.4G 3.3G 0 100% /home/paul/.gvfs
paul@p

________________________________
From: Andre Mangan <email address hidden>
To: <email address hidden>
Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2009 4:07:08 PM
Subject: Re: [Question #69117]: how do you reformat?

Your question #69117 on Ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/69117

    Status: Open => Answered

Andre Mangan proposed the following answer:
You will not create more space by reformatting. I assume that what you meant was that you want to repartition.
To check how your drive is being utilised, type the following command into a terminal window and post back here:

df -h

For your other question relating to your external drive, open a terminal
and type:

sudo chown paul:paul -R /media/disk

that is assuming that your login name is paul. Then type:

sudo chmod -R 777 /media/disk

It would be helpful if you were to provide some details of your machine.

--
If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
know that it is solved:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/69117/+confirm?answer_id=4

If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
following page to enter your feedback:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/69117

You received this question notification because you are a direct
subscriber of the question.

To repartition you may use GParted, it can be installed via Synaptic and can be found then in
system administration -> partition editor

Reference:
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DrivesAndPartitions

According to the figures you provided, your Home directory is full.

It appears that you are using a netbook with a netbook installation and that your storage capacity is 3.4 GB. Is it an Asus eeepc 701 or similar?

You do not need to format or partition, in fact it would achieve absolutely nothing. The best solution would be to get an SD card or other storage device and transfer some of your files from your Home directory to the SD card - or to your external drive.

I have a dell netbook. I do have a external hard drive I just can't get files to transfer

Andre Mangan <email address hidden> wrote:

>Your question #69117 on Ubuntu changed:
>https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/69117
>
>Andre Mangan proposed the following answer:
>According to the figures you provided, your Home directory is full.
>
>It appears that you are using a netbook with a netbook installation and
>that your storage capacity is 3.4 GB. Is it an Asus eeepc 701 or
>similar?
>
>You do not need to format or partition, in fact it would achieve
>absolutely nothing. The best solution would be to get an SD card or
>other storage device and transfer some of your files from your Home
>directory to the SD card - or to your external drive.
>
>--
>If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
>know that it is solved:
>https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/69117/+confirm?answer_id=7
>
>If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
>following page to enter your feedback:
>https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/69117
>
>You received this question notification because you are a direct
>subscriber of the question.

Try this: Get a USB thumb drive around 1GB. Get your hands on an ubuntu CD - either download the .iso, or order one. One you have your Ubuntu CD, find a PC with a cd drive. Boot it from the ubuntu CD, and go to System > Administration > USB Startup Disk Creator. Follow the steps there and you should have an ubuntu installer on your thumb drive. Back your stuff up to that external drive you mentioned, reboot with that thumb drive plugged in. There might be a key you have to hit immediately after turning the netbook on to get it to look for an alternate device to boot from. With Dells it's usually F12. Once you get it to boot from the thumb drive, you should be able to install and format from there.

Note: I've never done this myself, someone with more experience might want to step in and slap me if I'm wrong.

That must be the Dell Mini 9n with a storage capacity of 4 GB. You cannot increase storage on that machine unless you want to perform major surgery.

What kind of external hard drive do you have, Paul?

What is preventing you from transferring files from your netbook to your external drive?

That is the computer I have the external hard drive I have is a. Passport

Andre Mangan <email address hidden> wrote:

>Your question #69117 on Ubuntu changed:
>https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/69117
>
>Andre Mangan proposed the following answer:
>That must be the Dell Mini 9n with a storage capacity of 4 GB. You
>cannot increase storage on that machine unless you want to perform major
>surgery.
>
>What kind of external hard drive do you have, Paul?
>
>What is preventing you from transferring files from your netbook to your
>external drive?
>
>--
>If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
>know that it is solved:
>https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/69117/+confirm?answer_id=10
>
>If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
>following page to enter your feedback:
>https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/69117
>
>You received this question notification because you are a direct
>subscriber of the question.

So it is a Western Digital Passport USB drive.

Why can't you transfer files to it? What is happening when you try?

What usually happens when you connect a USB storage device, is that it will show up on your Ubuntu screen. Then you can open the drive by a double click on the drive symbol (icon).

To transfer a file from your Dell Mini, right click on the file you wish to transfer, choose "Cut", open your external drive, right click anywhere on the screen and then choose "Paste".

This info might help when I boot computer it says 100% of root partition in use

Andre Mangan <email address hidden> wrote:

>Your question #69117 on Ubuntu changed:
>https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/69117
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
>Andre Mangan proposed the following answer:
>So it is a Western Digital Passport USB drive.
>
>Why can't you transfer files to it? What is happening when you try?
>
>What usually happens when you connect a USB storage device, is that it
>will show up on your Ubuntu screen. Then you can open the drive by a
>double click on the drive symbol (icon).
>
>To transfer a file from your Dell Mini, right click on the file you wish
>to transfer, choose "Cut", open your external drive, right click
>anywhere on the screen and then choose "Paste".
>
>--
>If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
>know that it is solved:
>https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/69117/+confirm?answer_id=12
>
>If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
>following page to enter your feedback:
>https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/69117
>
>You received this question notification because you are a direct
>subscriber of the question.

The figures that you provided earlier indicated that your Home directory is full. Your Dell Mini 9N has a storage capacity of only 4 GB and you have filled it to the brim. The solution is to transfer some of the files that are clogging up your Home directory to another storage medium.