[opensuse] Formatting an External Hard Drive
I have a new Seagate 1GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive. I would like to install OpenSUSE 11.4 on the disk and I should like some expert guidance on partitioning the drive. I would like to have a 2 GB vfat partition so that my Win OS computers (laptop and a tower) will be able to recognize the external drive. Currently, as a result of an abortive installation on linux, there is no vfat partition of the external drive. I am willing to accept the I 11.4 installer defaults, suitably adjusted for the 2.0 GB to be allocated to the vfat partition. How should I partition the drive? Thanks in advance. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Sun, 24 Apr 2011 15:17:48 -0400 "Stephen P Molnar" <s.molnar@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
I have a new Seagate 1GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive. I would like to install OpenSUSE 11.4 on the disk and I should like some expert guidance on partitioning the drive. I would like to have a 2 GB vfat partition so that my Win OS computers (laptop and a tower) will be able to recognize the external drive. Currently, as a result of an abortive installation on linux, there is no vfat partition of the external drive. I am willing to accept the I 11.4 installer defaults, suitably adjusted for the 2.0 GB to be allocated to the vfat partition. How should I partition the drive?
Thanks in advance.
Hi Stephen, I gather you meant "a new Seagate 1TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive."? I've always had the best luck with first creating any M$ compatible partitions and formatting them with M$ tools and then proceeding with my *nix installations. I've often encountered unexpected 'hiccups' going the other way around. hth & regards, Carl -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On 2011/04/24 15:17 (GMT-0400) Stephen P Molnar composed:
I have a new Seagate 1GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive. I would like to install OpenSUSE 11.4 on the disk and I should like some expert guidance on partitioning the drive. I would like to have a 2 GB vfat partition so that my Win OS computers (laptop and a tower) will be able to recognize the
Unless your Windows puters use antique versions older than W2K, I suggest you choose NTFS rather than VFAT. VFAT has a file size limitation that modern filesystems don't. DVD isos and many media files you might like to store there won't fit without dicing and splicing. With NTFS there won't be any reason to limit its size to 2G, which won't me very convenient to use if ever you'll be saving big files from Windows.
external drive. Currently, as a result of an abortive installation on linux, there is no vfat partition of the external drive.
I am willing to accept the I 11.4 installer defaults, suitably adjusted for the 2.0 GB to be allocated to the vfat partition. How should I partition the drive?
I _always_ partition before installing anything. And I always assume Windows will eventually need _re_-installing, which blows away the myth that Windows needs to be installed first. http://fm.no-ip.com/PC/install-doz-after.html is a place percentage-wise to start WRT deciding how to partition. USB, unless you have v3, is quite slow compared to ATA. It's not a good place to install an OS that needs more than occasionally use. It'll keep you waiting more often than you like, and thinking it's Linux or openSUSE that's slow rather than your hardware. Remember, most HDs are noticeably faster putting and getting data from the front of a HD than the end, not unusually a 50% difference, so the front is where swap and OS should go, while data storage slowness usually is a non-issue. Give every OS what it needs, and only what it needs, including swap (windows can have its own separate swap partition too, and a separate partition for most user data, and a separate small "boot") near the front. Save the slow parts of the HD for the rest. FWIW, my externals are all USB/eSATA combos, so that machines with eSATA connections aren't forced to wait on a USB storage sluggard. -- "The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation) Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On Sunday, 2011-04-24 at 17:17 -0400, Felix Miata wrote:
On 2011/04/24 15:17 (GMT-0400) Stephen P Molnar composed:
I _always_ partition before installing anything. And I always assume Windows will eventually need _re_-installing, which blows away the myth that Windows needs to be installed first. http://fm.no-ip.com/PC/install-doz-after.html is a place percentage-wise to start WRT deciding how to partition.
Reinstall windows? What a pain, never again. Just copy over the correct image you did after installation, saves hours of work pulling drivers and software and rebooting. You can do that with dd from the linux side.
Remember, most HDs are noticeably faster putting and getting data from the front of a HD than the end, not unusually a 50% difference, so the front is
The disks I have tested are faster at 1/3 of the front. - -- Cheers, Carlos E. R. (from 11.2 x86_64 "Emerald" at Telcontar) -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.12 (GNU/Linux) iEYEARECAAYFAk210DoACgkQtTMYHG2NR9UCgACfZ2UMPro0UDqaEQ8jwbmr3ADS 2uUAn2EqjDsnUTH1eVHbPxzMOs4H0N0C =VcmV -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On 2011/04/25 21:49 (GMT+0200) Carlos E. R. composed:
On Sunday, 2011-04-24 at 17:17 -0400, Felix Miata wrote:
I _always_ partition before installing anything. And I always assume Windows will eventually need _re_-installing, which blows away the myth that Windows needs to be installed first. http://fm.no-ip.com/PC/install-doz-after.html is a place percentage-wise to start WRT deciding how to partition.
Reinstall windows? What a pain, never again. Just copy over the correct image you did after installation, saves hours of work pulling drivers and software and rebooting. You can do that with dd from the linux side.
That's what _I_ do, but you think ordinary windoz "dual" booters ever gonna think of that? Strangers bring them to me already fsck'd up with no restore media to fix them with. I just set those machines off to one side, and poke at windoz when it needs a poke to continue to do what it ought to be smart enough to do on its own. Doesn't really how long it takes to me, and they leave here with no serious expectations how long it will be until I call to tell them come get it back.
Remember, most HDs are noticeably faster putting and getting data from the front of a HD than the end, not unusually a 50% difference, so the front is
The disks I have tested are faster at 1/3 of the front.
Sysbench 0.9.5d result file created Sun Apr 24 01:35:53 2011 Motherboard - Abit AI7; HT on Processor - Intel P4 3.0G 800 FSB External cache - 16Kb internal instruction cache, 1024Kb cache Storage Controller - Intel Corporation - 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) EIDE Controller Disk I/O disk 1-1: 238473 MB - ST3250310AS Avg. data access time : 15.100 milliseconds Cache/Bus xfer rate : 115.680 Megabytes/second Track 0 xfer rate fwd : 84.872 Megabytes/second Middle trk rate fwds. : 89.659 Megabytes/second Last track rate bwds. : 53.584 Megabytes/second Average Transfer rate : 76.038 Megabytes/second Disk use CPU load : 8.250 percent ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Total : 424.140 Disk I/O-marks Disk I/O disk 2-2:1430796 MB - ST31500341AS Avg. data access time : 11.500 milliseconds Cache/Bus xfer rate : 109.007 Megabytes/second Track 0 xfer rate fwd : 107.472 Megabytes/second Middle trk rate fwds. : 106.981 Megabytes/second Last track rate bwds. : 95.558 Megabytes/second Average Transfer rate : 103.337 Megabytes/second Disk use CPU load : 11.290 percent ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Total : 567.438 Disk I/O-marks 84.872 / 53.584 = 1.584 (aka 58% better at front) 107.472 / 95.558 = 1.125 (aka 12.5% better at front) -- "The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation) Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On 2011-04-25 23:06, Felix Miata wrote:
On 2011/04/25 21:49 (GMT+0200) Carlos E. R. composed:
That's what _I_ do, but you think ordinary windoz "dual" booters ever gonna think of that?
I learnt the trick from some of them. Well, they were the support people of a big company, they go tired of reinstalling... so they used Ghost instead. I saw a shop the other day with prices in the front: so many for a clean up, so many for reinstall, so many for installing a single piece of software, so many for an antivirus... I could make a living of that - long live windows! The worst it is, the better for us ;-)
107.472 / 95.558 = 1.125 (aka 12.5% better at front)
:-) I took the pain to partition two or three seagate 500 GB disks with 20 or more equal partitions, then I run a script with hdparm -tT on all of them, one by one, and compared. On another test I formatted and wrote files. Faster at 1/3. - -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from 11.2 x86_64 "Emerald" at Telcontar) -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.12 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with SUSE - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iEYEARECAAYFAk217kMACgkQtTMYHG2NR9UXUACgmCyul8bpYivhtGT5g8cKbFuD uiUAnRG2VfkTSqR/z9qqZNjctqPPVktz =EMfu -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
participants (5)
-
Carl Hartung -
Carlos E. R. -
Carlos E. R. -
Felix Miata -
Stephen P Molnar