thanks sofar guys.. but, it ain't going as i want.. at this point i don't really mind losing the data on that Windows disk, this is what "fdisk -l" reports:
Disk /dev/hde: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 2481 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hde1 * 1 7 56196 83 Linux
/dev/hde2 8 2481 19872405 5 Extended
/dev/hde5 8 1074 8570646 83 Linux
/dev/hde6 1075 2141 8570646 83 Linux
/dev/hde7 2142 2174 265041 83 Linux
/dev/hde8 2175 2207 265041 83 Linux
/dev/hde9 2208 2240 265041 82 Linux swap
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i'm assuming /dev/hde2 is the Windows disk.. how do i format that one for use with Linux ??