X61s Disk partitioning

[Ankaan]

Hi. I just received my new ThinkPad X61s and I am about to flush everything that has anything to do with Windows Vista away.

From what I read in guides for installation of GNU/Linux on X61s I need to keep 1mb free at the beginning of the hard drive for use by the BIOS. Sounds strange to me, but that is what I've read (http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/hosted/ ... -x61s.html).
I have also read about the HPA (http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Hidden_Protected_Area) which should be a partition at the end of the disk.
I can boot it with the "ThinkVantage"-button but I can't find it at the end. I know that it is supposed to be hidden, but it all adds up. And there is some space in the beginning, similar to what a HPA should look like...

fdisk /dev/sda
(enter: p)

Code: Select all

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device          Boot  Start  End   Blocks        Id  System
/dev/sda1              1       757   6077440   27 Unknown
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda2     *       757   9730 72071168 7   HPFS/NTFS
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.

I get the errors about some malformed partition table and I can find the R&R partition, but in the wrong place and last but not least: I cannot find anything in the BIOS about the rescue partition as on the thinkwiki.org page.

Also, there is no free space at the beginning to be used by the BIOS. Could this be inside the R&R partition? Sounds strange but possible.

And lastly: How should I proceed with partitioning? Do I have to leave any space at the beginning of the disk? And could someone clarify, has there been any changes to this R&R partition in the X61s model?

MOD EDIT: Sounds like meant for linux forum.

[whizkid]

You do NOT have to keep the first anything of your drive unpartitioned except the MBR. However, since most partitioning software works in cylinders instead of blocks, that means your first partition begins at cylinder 1 instead of cylinder 0.

All partitioning already knows this and will do the right thing, so you can ignore that part.

I suppose the first thing I would do is make recovery media, in case you want to sell the machine with Windows intact. Then decide whether you want to keep the recovery partition (looks like about 6GB), or erase it for more storage.

Then if you keep the recovery partition, you have to decide whether you want to try to keep the ThinkVantage button working during boot (which takes more work), or if you can allow GRUB/your bootloader of choice to run that software.

THEN you can decide how to partition your remaining space for Linux, and that will depend on quite a few things, like how experienced you are and which distribution you'll be using.

[Ankaan]

Thank you whizkid, that took some weight of my shoulders.
I don't want to accept any kind of license agreement so I won't boot into windows vista and create a recovery media and I don't want to waste 6GB of disk space.
Though I am planning to use some kind of disk backup tool to burn me a copy. Most likely some kind of clone image that will simply return everything to the original state without me having to actually press that accept button.

But this also makes me curious: Why those warnings on a OEM-system?
"Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary."
What does that actually imply and why?

And about the continuation of the install process. I have already collected quite a lot of resources for that and hopefully I will manage.
I have been running Linux an several systems for a long time, but this will be the first time on a laptop.

I will be back here if I get into trouble with something ThinkPad-specific. Thanks again for the help!

[whizkid]

Booting a CD and copying the restore partition to an external drive (hard or optical) would be a great backup of that data. Good idea.

The warnings are for some operating systems that use only CHS, like DOS or maybe FAT (I don't know for sure). Modern OSes can use any block number for a partition boundary (especially since CHS gets remapped by the drive firmware anyway).

You should take a look at www.thinkwiki.org and the Linux ThinkPad mailing list at www.linux-thinkpad.org.

Keep us posted!

[Ankaan]

Interresting...
After running clonezilla and saving the whole system to a remote server, I modified the files a little. Just to test out if I could omit the system partition. And it worked: After I restored I can boot the R&R so that I can restore the system. Everything works fine and I am just about to blow it all away when I take a glance at the partition table:

Code: Select all

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
188 heads, 7 sectors/track, 118770 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 1316 * 512 = 673792 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           2        9238     6077440   27  Unknown

All errors about the cylinder boundaries are gone and there is actually some free space at the beginning. Clonezilla must have made some corrections by itself... But it all seem to work fine so I will keep it that way for the moment.

And correct me if I'm wrong. Shouldn't I keep that free space since it showed up? Or are you absolutely sure that it is not necessary?
For the moment I will keep it free, if it is unnecessary I can always grow the boot partition a little at a later time.

[whizkid]

See how the CHS drive geometry is completely different?

255, 63, 9729 vs
188, 7, 118770

Some OSes don't like more than 65535 cylinders, some BIOSes like things a certain way (especially ThinkPads).

The warnings could be gone because the partitions do align with the new CHS geometry. 1 vs. 2 is not going to make a noticeable difference in drive space, and I wouldn't make a 1 cylinder partition or move your recovery partition to get that space back.

[Ankaan]

The recovery partition is going away, since I have now have a backup of it. The question is whether to place the boot partition of my GNU/Linux installation at cylinder 1 or 2.
And yeah, it won't make any difference in storage. But it would look (read: feel) better.

[whizkid]

Every system I've ever set up always starts the first partition at cylinder 1. If 2 feels better to you, go right ahead. Personally, I'd like it to start at cylinder 0, head 0, sector 1 (or 2 or whatever is really needed), but 1,0,0 will suffice.