Yes, what you suggest is possible, but just be careful to backup your data. Burn the Gparted ISO onto a USB and then boot from it. You will then be able to use this tool to delete the Win partition and resize the Linux one.
For complete peace of mind in case something goes wrong, I suggest using CloneZilla to create an image of the drive for backup purposes before messing around with the partition. Of course, you will then need a spare internal or external drive of the same size, or larger, onto which you will save the image…
Grub will easily cope when the Windows partition is removed, but I also suggest installing Refind, which provides a nice interface at boot-time to choose which system to use and also recognizes any changes when partitions are added or removed. You should find the package in the repositories of most distros.
I cannot help with this.
Linux can handle NTFS. On my Linux server I used Samba to share files on NTFS drives over the network because those drives were removed from my Windows PC at the time . Most Linux distros will handle Samba shares through the CIFS-utils package.
I read that there is no great performance loss between sharing Linux’s EXT file system over a NFS network share from a Linux box , and NTFS over a Samba network share from a Linux box, but there is one potential issue as I see it: Linux distros do not have the tools to check NTFS drives for errors. Therefore, if a powercut was to happen, then you may then have to remove the NTFS drives from your Linux machine and go find a Windows machine to check the disks and correct any errors. I coped with this for a few years before deciding to create new EXT4 partitions and copy the data across from the NTFS partitions. I recommend that you employ a similar migration strategy.
I cannot help with this.
Good luck! The learning curve is steep and somewhat mindblowing, but very satisfying too - and you’ll maybe catch the Linux server admin bug (disease?) and want to go deeper into that rabbit hole…
Quick response:
Yes, what you suggest is possible, but just be careful to backup your data. Burn the
GpartedISO onto a USB and then boot from it. You will then be able to use this tool to delete the Win partition and resize the Linux one. For complete peace of mind in case something goes wrong, I suggest usingCloneZillato create an image of the drive for backup purposes before messing around with the partition. Of course, you will then need a spare internal or external drive of the same size, or larger, onto which you will save the image… Grub will easily cope when the Windows partition is removed, but I also suggest installingRefind, which provides a nice interface at boot-time to choose which system to use and also recognizes any changes when partitions are added or removed. You should find the package in the repositories of most distros.I cannot help with this.
Linux can handle NTFS. On my Linux server I used Samba to share files on NTFS drives over the network because those drives were removed from my Windows PC at the time . Most Linux distros will handle Samba shares through the
CIFS-utilspackage. I read that there is no great performance loss between sharing Linux’s EXT file system over a NFS network share from a Linux box , and NTFS over a Samba network share from a Linux box, but there is one potential issue as I see it: Linux distros do not have the tools to check NTFS drives for errors. Therefore, if a powercut was to happen, then you may then have to remove the NTFS drives from your Linux machine and go find a Windows machine to check the disks and correct any errors. I coped with this for a few years before deciding to create new EXT4 partitions and copy the data across from the NTFS partitions. I recommend that you employ a similar migration strategy.I cannot help with this.
Good luck! The learning curve is steep and somewhat mindblowing, but very satisfying too - and you’ll maybe catch the Linux server admin bug (disease?) and want to go deeper into that rabbit hole…