Score:0

How do I remove Linux and GRUB from my computer when I installed it on a seperate drive

us flag

I am trying to remove Linux from my second drive to prepare my laptop for craigslist. Specifically, I have Windows 10 on one SSD and Linux Mint on a different SSD, and I would like to reset my Windows and delete my Mint OS because I want to make my system more vanilla for resale. I was wondering how to delete the linux partition without bricking my laptop, since I am booting using GRUB rather than the default windows bootloader. Much of the advice I have found for removing GRUB/Linux involves partitions on a single drive, but I have Windows installed on a 2.5in drive and Linux installed on a (SATA) M.2. Is the advice any different for this case?

BurritoManiac56 avatar
ax flag
If you have windows installed, right click the drive in explorer and press "Format", a window should pop up, uncheck "Quick Format" and start the format. It shoud look something like [this], replace exFat with your filesystem. heres a tutorial to erase data for good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAUo0fI6V9k [this]: https://i.stack.imgur.com/A7MFy.png
Score:3
ng flag

There seems to be an unasked question here which is how to not only uninstall Ubuntu, but how to prepare your device to be resold to a third party.

Formatting the hard drive is not enough to prevent someone from stealing your personal data.. That's because formatting does not actually delete any data.

If you are selling the device on craigslist you should securely erase all of the hard drives on the device. SSDs usually have a "secure erase" feature which will allow you to quickly and securely wipe the whole disk. SSDs without secure erase and all HDDs will need to have the entire disk overwritten using a tool like DBAN.

If you want to sell the device with an operating system preinstalled, you should cleanly install the OS only after all disks have been securely erased, without inputting any personal or identifying information.

If you sell the laptop on craigslist without removing all operating systems you used and without securely erasing all the storage, you may live to regret it: identity theft is very real and increasingly common. One of the easiest ways someone can steal your info is obtaining hardware that was not securely erased.

Score:0
us flag

In this case it actually seems easier to remove Linux than if they were on the same drive. GRUB is on the M.2 drive, so I changed the boot order from the BIOS/UEFI boot options menu to put the 2.5 inch drive first. Bam, no more GRUB.

After that I formatted the drive with Linux on it from Windows using the Windows disk partitioning tool.

Will avatar
id flag
Please be very careful to take note of what Nmath said - yes, you’ll have formatted the drive, but you haven’t destroyed the data.
mangohost

Post an answer

Most people don’t grasp that asking a lot of questions unlocks learning and improves interpersonal bonding. In Alison’s studies, for example, though people could accurately recall how many questions had been asked in their conversations, they didn’t intuit the link between questions and liking. Across four studies, in which participants were engaged in conversations themselves or read transcripts of others’ conversations, people tended not to realize that question asking would influence—or had influenced—the level of amity between the conversationalists.