Topic: question about setting up my laptop

[dmonterisi]

so my new laptop is scheduled to arrive today and i had a question or two about setting it up for taping.

i'm gonna do the dual-boot thing with win 2k and xp pro.  the machine comes with xp pro already on there.  so my understanding is i have to install 2k first and then reinstall xp pro.

question 1, how big should the drive partitions be?  i have 40 gigs; i need 3 partitions, 1 for xp, 1 for 2k and 1 for data storage.  the only app i plan to install on the 2k side is wavelab.

question 2: can i do the xp reinstall by using norton ghost?  so what i was thinking was, i open the laptop, boot it up and first thing i do is ghost it, then install 2k, partition, and reinstall xp from the ghost image...will this work?

any other suggestions most appreciated, i will be reading the 24bit faq this evening as well.

-damon

[ianstone]

wow that's fast. i still havent even heard from fujitsu, no idea when my computer will arrive

ian

[rabhan]

1. partition your drive
2. format your partition
3. install 2k on it
4. format second partition
5. install xp on it
6. you can format the data partition from inside windows
7. install all apps, go to 24bit.org for tweaks, get your shit running smooth
8. ghost each OS partition, compress and back up to cdr.

when you install the OS's, they will prompt you for formating, do it at that time.

[dmonterisi]

ok, jon, here's a little twist for you...my laptop arrived yesterday, installed with xp pro and the typical bundle of shitty apps...it came with its own special edition of Drive Image (similar to norton ghost)...it has an image of the laptop's HD as it is now stored on a partition of my drive...do you think i should create my xp partition from the drive image that is already created for me by fujitsu?  i guess some of the shit they put on there might be useful...i imagine there are some helpful diagnostic programs and utilities, but not sure yet.  what do you think?  thanks again for all your help.

btw, it's a nice little box.

Ian--definitely can not use 3 batts at once.  the manual says you can warm swap the main battery bay but the instructions say to make sure either ac is plugged in or the modular batt is in, then go to standby mode...i think it will work without going to standby mode but i don't know.  i also haven't figured out yet if it drains the modular bay battery or the main battery first.

[rabhan]

being that you want 2k installed first, you wont be able to save the current xp partition. you have to install 2k first.

to give you an example, after i made my ghosts, i went to reghost my 2k partition. then the xp on wouldnt work, so i had to also reghost that one second.

i do not think you can save your current configuration

[dmonterisi]

ok, thanks, i was under the (mis)impression that with norton ghost you could reinstall the ghosted OS onto a new partition rather than onto the whole drive...what i intended was to ghost the current setup, then install 2k, then partition, etc, then install the ghosted xp pro setup to one of the partitions...i guess it won't work though.

[dklein]

Hey guys - perfect timing on this discussion.

I just picked up plain old Dell laptop for work stuff but figured I'd try it out for audio with the UA-5 and USB just for kicks.  I think the machine is adequate (Celeron 2.0, 256MB, 30GB) and there's even a good chance I can grab AC power at my regular venues.

The thing came with XP Home, which I want to strip off.  I was thinking I'd like to ghost it just in case but that doesn't appear simple as it came with only 1 partition and sounds like I can't add one.

Is there any reason I should worry about keeping the factory install (or a copy of it)?  I'm not sure if a Dell is difficult to bring back to spec if I can't get Win2k running (weird drivers or anything like that).

[dmonterisi]

well, i think it's a good idea to ghost it just as a backup plan so if you have some sort of catastrophic failure with whatever you put on there, at least you have something to go back to...

[dklein]

any ideas how I can do it?  Can't seem to creat a partition thru the XP tools and can't ghost without a separate partition.  (tried command line and the compmgmt.msc utility).
I can share the drive thru the network but I don't think that makes it ghostable either.

Perhaps I should 'obtain' a copy of PQ?

[ianstone]

Ian--definitely can not use 3 batts at once.  the manual says you can warm swap the main battery bay but the instructions say to make sure either ac is plugged in or the modular batt is in, then go to standby mode...i think it will work without going to standby mode but i don't know.  i also haven't figured out yet if it drains the modular bay battery or the main battery first.

darn. i had a feeling about that after our discussion yesterday. Well i guess it cant hurt having 1 std. and 1 hicap battery... like you say, i'll use the std. for the 'opener' or 1st set, and then swap out.
I donno any situation i'd record for 5+hrs without a pause somewhere in there
i also was considering getting a 4th battery and the desktop charger so i can be charging while it's running (ie festivals)

all good things in all good time


bean you sound like you already know what you're doing regarding partition/ghost/bla bla bla

i donno shit!

i got an email from fujitsu today they said my lappie will ship out on 9/15... so i should have it by the end of the month.

ian