Tech Heads, Assemble!

[EJX_Michael]

Awesome! Okay, I went into Disk Management and initialized the hard drive. Now the desktop PC recognizes it! My friend, who's in school to work on computers and networks and such, told me to partition the drive, as I also want to load Ubuntu on the drive.

My question is this: As I understand it, drive partitions are supposed to separate operating system files from regular files. If this is the case, how much space should set aside for Vista Ultimate and Ubuntu, and how much should be set aside for general files?

And if I want to redo the partitions later, once the hard drive/laptop are up and running, how would that go? Would it damage or delete files or anything?

As for your laptop, Does the backlight turn on when you press the power button? Hook the VGA (blue) wire from your desktop to monitor to the vga port on your laptop. If you get a picture on the monitor while your laptop is hooked up, you may have a bad backlight, or loose connection.

For the partitions... Once you have set the partitions and started using them, you will have to format the drive to change the partitions. Thus loosing all your data if you do.

Partitions separate a single physical drive into 2 or more logical drives.
For example... You started with one 200 GB hard drive, C:
Now you partitioned it into 2 separate drives 100 GB each. Now windows shows C: and D:, both 100 GB. But you still have only a single physical 200 GB hard drive.

Really the only reason to partition is to separate operating systems...

To dual boot Vista and Linux, you will have to make 2 partitions, and install Vista to one, Linux to the other. You should read up on how to dual boot systems before finalizing anything.


As for how big you will want to make the partitions... 2 Questions... How big is the hard drive, and which OS will you find yourself using more?

[accordaffair]

Awesome! Okay, I went into Disk Management and initialized the hard drive. Now the desktop PC recognizes it! My friend, who's in school to work on computers and networks and such, told me to partition the drive, as I also want to load Ubuntu on the drive.

My question is this: As I understand it, drive partitions are supposed to separate operating system files from regular files. If this is the case, how much space should set aside for Vista Ultimate and Ubuntu, and how much should be set aside for general files?

Well, sort of, splitting the hard drive into partitions just makes a bunch of virtual drives, meaning the computer recognizes each partition as it's own hard drive, but physically there's just the one. You can do it for any reason, the reason you mentioned is very popular because you can wipe the OS and reinstall without losing your important files. I generally give my linux install like 5 gigs, or less if theres not much room to work with, and I keep all my important files on a different partition. Keep in mind that linux is gonna make 2 partitions for itself, the home ( or "/") partition where everything goes, and the swap partition which is like the swapfile in windows, it is virtual RAM, a place where the OS can put files that are in RAM but not necessarily in use, to use more of the precious real RAM. So on a 5 gig space it might make like a 4.5 gig "/" home, and a 512 MB swap or whatever the case may be.

And if I want to redo the partitions later, once the hard drive/laptop are up and running, how would that go? Would it damage or delete files or anything?

Once you have your partitions set you can't really change them without screwing up your files. Now vista has the option to push all the files on the drive to the beginning and chop some space from the end to make a new partition, which is very cool. Software like partition magic has been doing this for years as well. If your linux partitions are on this same drive it may have troubles though, I don't know.

As a rule I don't change partitions unless I plan to lose everything on the hard drive at the same time (like when reformatting a hard drive)

[According2Aaron]

I hooked the desktop PC monitor up to the laptop and nothing happened on the monitor after I turned the laptop on.

The hard drive is 320 GB. I'll most likely be using Windows more than Linux, or at least, until I get used to Linux. So far I've done one partition and it's 244.14 GB. The desktop's Disk Management program says the remainder is 53.94 GB, but that added to the other 244.14 GB means a total of 298.08 GB, when it's supposed to be a 320 GB drive.

[EJX_Michael]

I hooked the desktop PC monitor up to the laptop and nothing happened on the monitor after I turned the laptop on.

The hard drive is 320 GB. I'll most likely be using Windows more than Linux, or at least, until I get used to Linux. So far I've done one partition and it's 244.14 GB. The desktop's Disk Management program says the remainder is 53.94 GB, but that added to the other 244.14 GB means a total of 298.08 GB, when it's supposed to be a 320 GB drive.

Hmm... The video card or motherboard might be toast... Is it under warranty?

Formatting of the Hard drive uses that space (Master File Table ect.)... It happens with all drives...

Id say at least 150-200 GB for Vista and the rest for Linux.

[accordaffair]

I hooked the desktop PC monitor up to the laptop and nothing happened on the monitor after I turned the laptop on.

The hard drive is 320 GB. I'll most likely be using Windows more than Linux, or at least, until I get used to Linux. So far I've done one partition and it's 244.14 GB. The desktop's Disk Management program says the remainder is 53.94 GB, but that added to the other 244.14 GB means a total of 298.08 GB, when it's supposed to be a 320 GB drive.

Well that seems like alot lost but I know for a fact theres a difference between an unformatted disk space which in the case is 320 GB, but a formatted disk is always smaller

Like disk manufacturers sell their drives as 320 GB!!! -then the small print says "320GB unformatted"

And when you go and install it will be smaller because the formatting does something to lessen the available, usable room...I can't remember the details, it's been years since I took my A+ classes

EXAMPLE, I have a 160 drive but it says 149 GB available, so that means formatting removed 7% of the usable space, on your 320 GB drive 7% would be 22.4 GB, 320-22.4=297.6 so that sounds right.

Now, about your laptop, are there any beeps when it starts? If not it may not be POST'ing. If that's the case I would start by removing and re-seating the RAM, it's a lot easier to swap components in desktops, so you can't really swap things like power supplies or whatever, but start with the RAM, and we'll go from there

[sandman61377]

Also, hd manufacturers actually calculate space differently than operating systems. To a manufacturer, 1kb= 1000 bytes, 1mb= 1000kbs, 1gb= 1000mbs, & so on. To an os (and to bios's) 1kb= 1024 bytes, 1mb= 1024kbs, 1gb= 1024mbs, and so on.

[According2Aaron]

Hmm... The video card or motherboard might be toast... Is it under warranty?

Formatting of the Hard drive uses that space (Master File Table ect.)... It happens with all drives...

Id say at least 150-200 GB for Vista and the rest for Linux.

It had a one year warranty that ran out in the summer.

So if I used Vista more than Linux, shouldn't I allocate most of the disk space for the logical drive that Vista will be on?

Now, about your laptop, are there any beeps when it starts? If not it may not be POST'ing. If that's the case I would start by removing and re-seating the RAM, it's a lot easier to swap components in desktops, so you can't really swap things like power supplies or whatever, but start with the RAM, and we'll go from there

There aren't any beeps, but there are some lights. The LED inside the power button lights up, the power indicator at the edge of the laptop lights up, the mouse pad lock LED lights up, and the wireless assistant LED lights up. Also, you can hear the hard drive spinning around, if it's inside when you start it up.

However, when the old hard drive was dying, it would do exactly what it's doing now (nothing), but when I'd tilt the laptop up at a certain angle and tap or knock on the computer (after cutting and reapplying power), it would start up, and I'd see everything on the screen like normal. That, of course, is different from most computers, where you can access the BIOS without a hard drive even in the thing.

[EJX_Michael]

It had a one year warranty that ran out in the summer.

So if I used Vista more than Linux, shouldn't I allocate most of the disk space for the logical drive that Vista will be on?



There aren't any beeps, but there are some lights. The LED inside the power button lights up, the power indicator at the edge of the laptop lights up, the mouse pad lock LED lights up, and the wireless assistant LED lights up. Also, you can hear the hard drive spinning around, if it's inside when you start it up.

However, when the old hard drive was dying, it would do exactly what it's doing now (nothing), but when I'd tilt the laptop up at a certain angle and tap or knock on the computer (after cutting and reapplying power), it would start up, and I'd see everything on the screen like normal. That, of course, is different from most computers, where you can access the BIOS without a hard drive even in the thing.

Yeah, make 2 partitions... 1 150-200 GB for vista and another with whatever is left for linux.

Id have to say something inside is loose. Look under one of the covers on the bottom of the laptop, and try reseating the ram...

[According2Aaron]

Yeah, make 2 partitions... 1 150-200 GB for vista and another with whatever is left for linux.

Id have to say something inside is loose. Look under one of the covers on the bottom of the laptop, and try reseating the ram...

Just out of curiosity, how come I'm supposed to leave more room for the OS I'd use less?

I tried reseating the ram, but it didn't help. Upon pulling off the panels on the bottom, I don't really see any wires or anything that I could make sure are secure, except two that are screwed in, and they're secure.

[accordaffair]

Just out of curiosity, how come I'm supposed to leave more room for the OS I'd use less?

I tried reseating the ram, but it didn't help. Upon pulling off the panels on the bottom, I don't really see any wires or anything that I could make sure are secure, except two that are screwed in, and they're secure.

hmmmm, you could also reseat the cpu, but you have to take the laptop apart to get to it

the old "hit it until it works" doesn't really tell me whats wrong though unfortunately....if only I had it in my hands I might know better

[According2Aaron]

Well, I've cracked the laptop open and can't see anything loose or anything. I it's just a Compaq....

[accordaffair]

if you can get down to the motherboard you can reseat the cpu, it should have a little lever to free it, make sure the any heatsinks haven't come loose....um blahhhh not a whole lot can be done with laptops, there might be a jumper that will let you reset the bios, what model is it?

[EJX_Michael]

Just out of curiosity, how come I'm supposed to leave more room for the OS I'd use less?

I tried reseating the ram, but it didn't help. Upon pulling off the panels on the bottom, I don't really see any wires or anything that I could make sure are secure, except two that are screwed in, and they're secure.

huh?

You said in an above post that you will use vista more.

I say 200GB to vista 300GB-200GB=100GB to linux

200 to vista
100 to linux

If you will use linux more, put the 200 to linux.
or just 150 em both and have equality...

[According2Aaron]

if you can get down to the motherboard you can reseat the cpu, it should have a little lever to free it, make sure the any heatsinks haven't come loose....um blahhhh not a whole lot can be done with laptops, there might be a jumper that will let you reset the bios, what model is it?

It's a Presario F500.

huh?

You said in an above post that you will use vista more.

I say 200GB to vista 300GB-200GB=100GB to linux

200 to vista
100 to linux

If you will use linux more, put the 200 to linux.
or just 150 em both and have equality...

I will be using Vista more. I was asking because you said:

Id say at least 150-200 GB for Vista and the rest for Linux.

I misunderstood you and, for some reason, thought you were saying to partition more space for Linux. Nevermind.

[accordaffair]

hp's website doesn't help too much

did you say you tried hooking it up to the desktops monitor and tried turning on the laptop? Remember to switch it over to the external monitor. On my compaq laptop it's the 'Fn' key plus like the 6 or 7 key, which ever has the little 'square in parenthesis' symbol over it.