How to partition new hard drive

[emeraldgirl08]

I am getting a new 80gb hard drive to replace the slow hard drive in my T30.

I dual boot and am wondering if there is a specific way to optimize the cloning I am going to do.

What will get me a fast and speedy result? I know very little to none about cloning my existing drive. I did post a thread about cloning awhile back and downloaded HDClone. It will be my first time using it and I'm a little nervous. I'd just like this to go smoothly without any problems.

Edit: forgot to mention that I am sticking with Ibex for the time being. I may upgrade to Jaunty but with a LiveCD run I did yesterday- the wireless was not working. I have to get that sorted out before I make the transition.

[GatorHawk]

I start with a completely blank HD and always install XP first then Linux.

Boot the XP install disc and make an NTFS partition. For example, I used of 50% of a 160GB HD for NTFS/XP.

Before loading Ubuntu, you can also optionally make a small F32 partition using the XP Disk Manager. This will allow you to move files easily between Linux and NT. However, I noticed in at least v9.04 I could mount the C: NTFS partition from within Ubuntu (possibly making the F32 partition unnecessary??).

After making sure XP was working well, boot the Ubuntu CD and do a manual partition scheme. Here is a typical scheme I use alot:

swap = RAM size
/root = 4-8GB, for normal Desktop installation, 5GB is plenty.
/home = rest of what is left in HD unallocated

Also install the GRUB boot manager from Ubuntu and this will let you pick between XP or Linux at startup.

[TheRedFox]

I don't have a system really, but I tend to map out my partitions by actually formatting them (using a GPartEd live cd), then reformat them during install. mainly because the installer for Windows and ArchLinux don't have especially graphical partitioning tools, and it helps to sort of see the actual map in GPartEd, if that makes any sense. Ubuntu actually has a graphical partition tool, so that's a different story.
I would recommend having a Fat32 partition for file sharing. I haven't yet been able to get an NTFS partition to work well in Linux (work yes, well, not so much). I was able to make a Fat32 shared partition that can be written to as a non-priveleged user, even though it was mounted by root during the boot up process with these options in FSTAB:

Code: Select all

user,rw,umask=000,noatime

the noatime is unrelated, that's just to conserve battery-life.

[emeraldgirl08]

UPDATE:

I received a new 80 gb HD

I don't have an external enclosure for it and have a copy of HDClone. What are my options here??? I live about an 1 1/4 hr away from the nearest electronics dept.

I don't have a recovery or OS discs for my T30. This isn't starting to sound good. I hope there is a way I can get my new HD in and set up w/ Windows XP, have a recovery partition, and have linux on board w/ dual boot!!!

Is there a way guys???

[Neil]

In order to clone the partitions on your old drive to your new one, you must have both drives connected to the system at the same time. So you are going to need either a usb enclosure, or a ultra bay hard disk adapter. Then, with both drives connected, run your cloning software of choice.

[emeraldgirl08]

Hmm. So the partitions could be resized and transferred to a new drive relatively easy? This is my "fdisk -l" results.

Disk /dev/sda: 40.0 GB, 40007761920 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4864 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xf1fff1ff

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 2321 18643401 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 4650 4864 1723680 1c Hidden W95 FAT32 (LBA)
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda3 2322 4649 18699660 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 2322 4546 17872281 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 4547 4649 827316 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Now when BIOS loads there is no R&R anymore on boot. The only thing I can see that resembles the R&R is the Ubuntu R&R. How would one start the Windows R&R process?

[emeraldgirl08]

This is my new fdisk -l results w/ new HD connected in USB enclosure:

Disk /dev/sda: 40.0 GB, 40007761920 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4864 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xf1fff1ff

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 2321 18643401 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 4650 4864 1723680 1c Hidden W95 FAT32 (LBA)
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda3 2322 4649 18699660 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 2322 4546 17872281 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 4547 4649 827316 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Disk /dev/sdb: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/sdb doesn't contain a valid partition table

*************************

I need to run a partitioning program next right?

[emeraldgirl08]

Okay. I used the GParted Live Disc 0.4.5.2 to copy my partitions over to my new HD.

This was a pretty anxiety-filled operation. I don't have a second comp right by me so I used my PDA to view web pages and documents I had saved as reference.

First I copied the NTFS (XP Pro) files to my new drive and pasted them. It took awhile for the clone to finish. I went to look at the contents on my old drive and saw I had not copied the FAT32 hidden partition over. I then copied and pasted that but moved the partition WAY over to the right. That's how it looks in the GParted GUI so I mimicked it. I also mimicked the flags. I hope that was the right thing to do.

I then shutdown the computer by holding down the power button and swapped drives. I DID NOT REBOOT as the instructions clearly stated. Here's where something BAD happened. The HD caddy had a stubborn screw. I slipped and dropped my old HD.

Four bent pins. I straightened them out and do not know if the old HD will even work now

After swapping drives I started the comp up and pressed F12 to select CD-ROM as booting device. I inserted Super Grub Disk 0.9797. This is where I got lost. I just pressed enter throughout the instructions. I picked "Boot Windows" and now I'm typing from my Windows partition.

Is it okay to restart my comp now? Do I need to do something so that Windows will boot on it's own?

[emeraldgirl08]

Okay I restarted and it works!

I'm so used to using commands in terminal but how would I figure out total disk usage on my new drive? I left Linux out for now. I'm curious about Jaunty and do have the LiveCD sitting here so...maybe later. Is there a way to boot Linux from my old HD?

[emeraldgirl08]

Ok guys. I got my Ultrabay HDD adapter this afternoon. I put the Ubuntu/FAT32 HD in it and placed it in it's new home. Around this time I had to be somewhere but needless to say I was praying that nothing would go awry once I got home and test drove it!

Nothing happened.

As in Windows XP Pro kept booting up instead of a boot menu. Okay... so I keyed in Ultrabay adapter and found several threads. One said to go to press F12 while rebooting and choose removeable disk (or something like that). I tried that but Windows came on again. From this point on it was trial and error. I knew I should check BIOS for settings. I went into BIOS and checked the configurations. Things looked okay there. I tried restarting and choosing Hard Drive, CD ROM, and then Floppy Drive for boot choices.

None of them worked

So I checked the threads again and saw a helpful tidbit. I don't remember who posted it but the thing is to place the HD at the top of the boot order! Since the menu had Hard Drive as a collapsible menu I saw the Ubuntu HD and moved it to the very top. Saved and rebooted. Windows came on again.



Okay I F12 again and go choose Hard Drive.



Success! I'm typing from Jaunty right now and am LOVING IT! I am tempted to buy a faster drive for Jaunty (I'm using the stock 4200 rpm for it) but am considering things. I have a pretty nice setup for an older Laptop... however I could really use something that can handle multimedia apps better. I may add an item or two to this T30 and sell it. Then buy a T61 or something that won't get HOT when I try and transcode video formats! Anyway I'm quite proud I got this baby up and running!

Thanks to all the people who posted their progress!!!

[tom lightbody]

well done:-)