Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3: System Administration Guide
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# 5.3. Removing a Partition

| Warning
| Do not attempt to remove a partition on a device that is in use.

Before removing a partition, boot into rescue mode (or unmount any partitions on the device and turn off any swap space on the device).

Start `parted`, where /dev/`hda` is the device on which to remove the partition:

    parted /dev/hda

View the current partition table to determine the minor number of the partition to remove:

    print

Remove the partition with the command `rm`. For example, to remove the partition with minor number 3:

    rm 3

The changes start taking place as soon as you press <KEYCAP >[Enter]</KEYCAP >, so review the command before committing to it.

After removing the partition, use the `print` command to confirm that it is removed from the partition table. You should also view the output of

    cat /proc/partitions

to make sure the kernel knows the partition is removed.

The last step is to remove it from the `/etc/fstab` file. Find the line that declares the removed partition, and remove it from the file.

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