[dabigkahuna]

See the message I just sent in response to piyushsingh. I was writing it while you were sending your message.

Answering your questions:

I don't know if Lunix thought the 319 mb is the right size or not. The 1.25 partition it created, if added to that swap file, is suspiciously close to the 1.5 gb recommended! But as long as it doesn't stop me from using it, I'll just make the change when I'm sure about what I'm doing with gparted (again, see other prior post).

I'm viewing with gparted - partition magic isn't even installed anymore since I reinstalled windows.

I'm just not clear on this mounted and unmounted stuff. But gparted shows the partitions themselves with an "!" inside a triangle next to the name. Choosing "information" says the CONTENTS are unreadable and thus some operations may not work. Don't know if mounting them would make them readable or not, but I was told I should run gparted on unmounted partitions. Hmm, which brings up the question of how I'll move the EXT partition since it would, I assume, be mounted since that's where the programs operate from. And the swap partition doesn't give options to mount or unmount.

As I mentioned in the prior post, now my new Ubuntu disk won't boot so I need to be able to do everything from the installed version unless it isn't possible.

Windows shouldn't be messing up my boot manager because I install that before Ubuntu. But since I want to do another reinstall of windows once this is all working, that might be an upcoming issue, which is darn annoying - especially since I can't count on being able to boot to the CD, which seems to be one of the steps for fixing any such problem when I scanned the link. I may have to leave the C partition alone and try to figure out manually what items no longer matter after the reinstall, but weren't removed. That's going to be a real pain. I know, for example, that there is stuff from Partition Magic still listed, but it isn't "installed" since the reinstall of windows should have eliminated any registry connections to it - unless PM is completely independent. In any case, there will be others like that.

Oh well, I'll worry about that after I get gparted to get my other partitions right.

[Evildave]

Your Partition Magic CD should be bootable.

[dabigkahuna]

Well, booting to CD's has not been dependable, but I did manage to boot to PM this time. Looked to delete the 1.25 logical partition on the extend partition so I could then move the EXT partition down and enlarge the swap-partition.

But when I tried to apply the changes, I soon got a message saying something about the version of the file system not being compatible. I then thought to change it to EXT - maybe I could merge them. Well, it made that change, but apparently there is no option for merging EXT partitions.

So, I'm still stuck. Dang, this shouldn't be so blasted hard. Seems like I'm just trying to do rather basic stuff for PM and never had this problem before when I was deleting or resizing partitions (though I did it from the installed program, not the CD).

[dabigkahuna]

Disaster!

First, I forgot to mention that I changed that 1.25 partition back to NTFS.

Since I couldn't delete that partition, I decided to see if I could shrink the C partition a little since I knew I'd be doing that later anyway.

Well, the process ran for awhile - slow so I went to do something else. When I came back to the computer, it had an error on the black screen. Booted PM Cd again and it looked like the partitions were still the same so I then tried to boot back to the Hard drive - and got an error (Grub).

So now I can't boot to anything and I don't know if what I was trying to do with the C partition has rendered Windows unbootable anyway.

[Evildave]

Well, it sounds like you might have to 'start over' again. This isn't such an uncommon situation when moving around partitions. Go ahead and curse (if you haven't already). It shouldn't be this hard, but it CAN BE.

Consider the first pass your 'practice round'.



You're learning. You haven't wasted time. You've racked up invaluable experience by being patient enough to even try.

Nothing on a PC is straight-forward and easy. If it seems to be, you overlooked something that's about to bite you in 3..2..1...

[dabigkahuna]

I don't mind starting over so much even if it means a major reformatting of the hard drive - besides the frustration that just when I thought my need to keep asking questions was over, it isn't.

I'm not sure where the best place to start will be. Remember I now have two big issues:

1. My boot CD process often doesn't work. The windows restore has failed a number of times. My first Ubuntu CD hasn't worked at all since the first day or so. My second one only worked the first time when I actually went ahead and installed Ubuntu. The PM magic one worked today, but for all I know, it will stop too.

2. I can't boot to the HD at all now.

I've never started completely from scratech before and if the CD drive is becomming so bad as to make it completely untrustworthy, how the heck do I get anything back on the HD?

I did see somethnig, when PM CD booted up, about a boot option (forget its name). Maybe I'll select that and see if it restores the dual boot capability.

Or maybe I'll try the Ubuntu CD yet again (after more than a dozen failures so I'm not hopeful) and select Install and see af that takes care of it.

Or the windows restore CD, assuming it works, to install windows yet again, though that may still not allow booting if there is that boot error. Reinstalling would have to get rid of that and I just don't know how any of these things work to that level of detail.

Besides any directions you can give on the best approach, here is a specific question I just thought of.

Remember that 1.25 gb partition that was created for no reason I can imagine (ntfs)? When I got that message about incompatibility of the system when I tried to remove it, is it possible that Ubuntu found a large bad section of the disk and just isolated it in a separate partition? Doesn't sound right, but nothing else makes sense.

[dabigkahuna]

Tried, in PM, messing with the 1.25 gb partition since I couldn't delete it. I shrunk it and then created a new partition to fill in the gap. Then I tried to delete the new one. Same error. Tried to delete the shrunk one. Same error (510). So now I have two partitions I don't want and can't get rid of!

Tried the BootMagic option in PM, but either I don't understand how it works, or it doesn't solve he problem. Tried to choose both the windown partition number and Ubuntu's, but neither would boot - it just keep rebooting into the PM cd (I have the computer setting set to only boot to the CD on power up, but I would think sending instructions to bootmagic to boot a partition would override that.

Then I tried booting the Ubuntu cd again - worked the second try. Went to Gparted and tried to delete the partition. One was listed as sdk6 and I got a popup that said "plesae unmount any partittions greater than 6". Well, I checked and none are mounted! So I tried to delete the shrunk one (sda5) and got the same message except it said to unmount any partition greater that 5!

This makes no sense to me. There seems to be only one logical partition which (#7 or 8) which I don't know about and that's the swap-partition. It doesn't even list mounting or unmounting as an option.

So, doing more experimenting, I deleted the last partition, which worked, and then see if I could expand the swap-partition a litle bit into it to get 1.5 gb. I couldn't find anything that would let me do that! So I created a new partition to replace the one I deleted.

That's where things stand at the moment.

I think I may select the install option of Ubuntu again, just to see if that gets my boot options back. If it does, at least I'll be able to see if it and Windows will still work.

[Evildave]

The 'easiest' way work-around your CD problem would be to find an external USB CD drive that you can borrow, assuming your BIOS will recognize it and boot off of it. Another way, if your BIOS supports booting off USB, would be to format a USB 'thumb drive' using a different computer that CAN boot your ubuntu CD. You can put Ubuntu on the thumb drive and boot that.

http://www.pendrivel...l-from-live-cd/

Inspect the CD drive you have. Get a nice, bright light. Anything on the sensor? Any dirt/dust?

Use some canned air to blow out the mechanisms around the lens. DO NOT blow on the lens with pressurized air.

Clean it with the tip of a clean lint free cloth (the kind they sell for a camera lens), just barely moist with either lens cleaning solution or high quality alcohol. 90% pure / 180 proof. Apply no pressure. A Q-tip can be used, but you must be VERY careful not to apply pressure to the delicate lens assembly or accidentally 'hook' it with a loose strand of cotton.

Clean the rest of the tray with the rest of your lint free cloth and a little more alcohol, avoiding contact with the lens assembly.

Moving on to the CDs, shine that same bright light on it and have a close look. You could be picking up some gunk off your desk of accidentally brushing the face with your fingers, or other people in the house might be handling them. Anyway, wipe only from the center, outwards. No smudges, no fingerprints, no streaks.

I don't know why an 'extra' partition appeared. Might even be a bad sector where the partition table is.

Here's another bootable tool disk with a variety of toys to play with. It comes with a variety of hard disk tools on it. Find out what kind of hard drive you have using the BIOS (it should tell you the brand and model number), and run a full diagnostic and low level format on it. That should be able to map some of the 'spare' sectors on the device for the 'bad' ones.

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

It comes in handy from time to time.

[dabigkahuna]

In my various research, I believe I saw something that said it had to boot from the internal CD. In any case, I know of no one with an external cd.

I'm always careful handling CDs and doubt that I've messed up three of them in succession! Could be something in the drive itself that gradually messes them up, I suppose.

Don't know about the thumb drive yet.
Lots more reading to do, I guess.

[dabigkahuna]

Small victories.

I loaded Ubuntu from the disk successfully and then clicked the install icon on the desktop. This time the "automatic" choice would make it one big Linux partition! So I chose "manual". I decided to try to see if I could get rid of the odd partitions from that and it looked like I was making progress, but then the install stuff locked up and I had to quit out of Ubuntu.

When I booted to the CD again, I looked at GParted, hoping those partitions were gone. They weren't. So I played around and found where the swap partition had a "Swapoff" setting. That seemed to get rid of the popups about having to "unmount" partitions (a little consistency in terminology would have helped there!). I successfully got GParted to delete the two small partitions, move the Linux partition into the space, and then expand the swap partition to fill the space (1.6 gb so just a hair over the recommended 1.5).

Then I tried installing twice more, but always using "manual" because I didn't want one big linux set-up. Locked up around step 4 every time, though a couple times when I tried to go past, it said something about not having a boot (or something like that). Couldn't find anyway to set that! I also noted that it showed the C partition as being basically empty. So I did a simple format of that from GParted.

Next I booted to the Windows restore CD. I'm guessing that unless I have that working, trying to install Ubuntu isn't going to put it in the next partition. Also, if reinstalling windows could screw up the boot menu Ubuntu should create when installed, I better get windows working first.

Anyway, I saw that I had a couple format options from the windows disk once I chose the C partition - a quick format and just format. So I'm running format right now. Taking a long time for 14 gb so I guess it is the complete format I prefer.

Oh, it just finished and is now copying files to the "installation folders" so hopefully this will successfully finish. I post again when I have more to update.

[dabigkahuna]

Success and problems

Windows installed fine and it was real nice to see that with all the other stuff gone, it only took about 1.85 gb!

So next I worked to get Ubuntu installed again so I could get back that boot menu on startup. My plan was to install right on top of what was there, but couldn't figure out how to do that. The automatic setting showed it was going to take my C partion and replace most of it with the Ubuntu stuff (only leaving about 1+ gb for anything added to Windows!

I finally saw how to adjust the size, though it wasn't ideal. After all, I was trying to get two OS systems in 13.7 gb!

But since I couldn't figure out another solution, that's what I did, hoping that later I could just make the adjustments with GParted.

After finishing, sure enough, I got the boot menu back, but now it not only showed the new Ubuntu options and Windows, it also showed the OLD Ubuntu boot option!!!

I don't know how to handle this. I figure the new one is what provides the boot menu so I should keep it, but I don't know. If the boot menu is stored someplace else entirely (like on C), it would be easier to make the changes by keeping the old setup.

Here is the info provided in GParted:

ska1: Fat16 partition 31.19 mb (I think this is normally a hidden partition used by Dell which shouldn't be touched.

ska2: NTFS 6.22 gb (this is the C partition that was shrunk when Ubuntu was installed).

ska3: Extented Partition holding the logical partitions. 21.69 gb

ska8: EXT3 7.13 gb (this is the rest of the old C partition, now moved into the Extended partition)

ska9: Swap 376.49 Mb (the new swap partition - interesting that it is again set to under half a gb)

ska5: EXT3 6.70 gb (this is the old Ubuntu installation. It is still on the boot menu, but I haven't actually tried to boot to it yet to be sure it works).

ska6: Swap 1.61 (the swap partition for the first installation, except I had manually enlarged it).

ska7: NTFS 5.88 (the data partition.

I noted when working in GParted that under "flags" the first NTFS partition said "boot". Don't know if that was from when I had named it that years ago or if it is something I had to set if I wanted to do a manual installation and couldn't because it said I hadn't set it.

Also, next to the first EST3 partition there was something about "Mount...." which had a "/" in it. Don't know what that means.

Now, I need to finish this up and, naturally, am concerned about screwing things up again. Here is the situation:

1. I need to only have one ubuntu installation and, of course, only one such listing on the boot menu.

If I erase what is in one of the installations, will that automatically remove them from the boot menu? If I take this approach, does it matter which set I erase (need to be sure I keep the boot menu working!).

Or is there something else I need to do to correct this?

2. I need to regain that wasted space in the hard drive used up by the duplicate ubuntu installation.

If I can delete the new one, then I can use Gparted to shrink the freed space (all would be at the START of the Extended partition), then shrink the Extended partition somewhat, then grow the C partition so I have a decent size for Windows and some apps. Then I'd move the old ubuntu partition further up (maybe even make it a bit bigger), move the old Swap up, and then maybe make the data partition bigger. That's the max changes - may just make C bigger and Ubuntu bigger, leaving the rest alone.

OR, delete the old Ubuntu partitions. Then I'd have to move the new one and new swap further back (probably make swap 1.5 gb - too big is better than too small, right). Then shrink the beginning of the extended partition somewhat so C can be made bigger (10-12 gb?).

So which approach will work (keep the boot menu, but remove the extra listings? No matter what, I'll be nervous every step of the way while changing those partitions!

Oh, almost forgot. After getting ubuntu working again, I went back to boot windows - it went into some test mode of the C partition. Apparently all was fine and it went very fast, but It makes me nervous too!

So, here I am, one more time, thinking I should be just about over the big problems. Just need these final steps clarified.

[Evildave]

1. To change the grub menu...

sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

Just delete the unwanted entries. There are a bunch of comments in the file to tell you what does what.

2. To delete the partitions...

Just boot into Ubuntu, go to 'Applications->Add/Remove...' and type 'gparted' into the search box and wait a couple of seconds. Check the Gnome Partition Editor and click 'Apply Changes'. It will download gparted into your full install.

You'll find System->Administration->Partition Editor. Run it and make the changes.

3. (You'll ask this next) You'll find your other drives under 'Places'. If you labeled them (Hint: do so with GParted by adding 'DOS labels' on your ubuntu partitions to keep them straight) they will be listed by their labels. The mount point will be under /media/(label on partition).

How to permanently mount a windows partition?
{noformat}Go back to 'Applications->Add/Remove...' and type 'ntfs-config', wait, and you'll see the thing. Install it.{noformat}{noformat}Run it from Applications>System Tools->NTFS Configuration Tool{noformat}{noformat}http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/mountwindows
{noformat}
Another tip: If you search for and check lots of stuff in Add/Remove..., it will do ALL of it when you hit 'Apply' without any baby-sitting. So you can 'shop' for toys and set it to work and do something else.

4. 'How do I get access to audio/video CO/DECs and proprietary drivers?'

'System->Administration->Synaptic Package Manager' is the 'Add/Remove' on steroids. More stuff in there. More ways to break the system. Go to Settings->Software sources in that window, and add 'Proprietary Drivers' and 'Software restricted by copyright or legal issues'. This will mostly enable more drivers and CO/DECs for media formats. There's also a 'third party' tab to add things like the latest OpenOffice repository, or other 'latest, greatest' DEB sources on the web that are not in the repository. You can also change your preferences for automatic updates, if you like. Do a package search for 'CODEC' and you'll probably at least want the GStreamer codecs.

While in Synaptic Package Manager, be sure to search for install ntfsprogs. It will find the dependencies. This will enable grayed out NTFS items in GParted (which calls these tools to do its dirty work). There are additional toolsets to install to deal with additional file systems. They're separate so gparted can be 'updated' with new versions of the tools, and not present for some reason, probably because the linux heads who made the decision wanted the 'least' installed, rather than the 'most'. You probably won't want reiser or hfs or xfs, either, so they're not installed unless you hunt them down.

This web site tells you what packages to get (through Synaptic) according to what file systems you want gparted to tinker with.

http://gparted.sourc...et/features.php

5. Don't foget to grab Flash. Remember, you always want the .deb version, if it's available.

http://www.adobe.com...ts/flashplayer/

[dabigkahuna]

I'm in the middle of yet another installation of Ubuntu - I think I've lost count of how many since my last post.

Basically, I keep running into problems when trying to adjust the partitions - and I have to adjust them because every installation doesn't let me get them the way I want to start with (or I just don't know how). I have found any pattern to the choices I get, either with automatic or manual choices.

Mostly, lately, it seems to one to take my C partition and thus not leave me enough for both C and Ubuntu to satisfy me. So, after installation, I start moving and resizing things (I do it from the Ubuntu CD to minimize possible problems). It seems the most consistant problem is an error when I move/resize Ubuntu partition - or maybe the new C partition too. I'm losing track!

The last time, it must have really gotten screw up. Even partition magic only showed one partition and marked it as "bad". Tried to format that partition from PM and it wouldn't do it.

So, I went back to Ubuntu and gparted (from the CD). The partitions showed up there and I deleted all but the C partition. My strategy this time, in hopes I don't have to change the partitions later, was to make the extended partition just big enough for my future data (6 gb). That meant the primary partition was about 22 gb and since Ubuntu has rescently tried to set-up by dividing the C section, I hoped that would happen again.

Fortunately, it did, so all I had to do was adjust the sizes it gave for each (12 for C and the rest for ubuntu).

Right now it is installing. Assuming the HD isn't actually trashed (since PM wouldn't work with it), I assume I'll have ubuntu back and grub working. The rub is that windows itself may be screwed up again, but I won't know till this installation is done. If it is messed up, I'll have to install that again too and I already know that messes up grub - so I'd be back to installing Ubuntu once again to get that back (and having to redo the partitions AGAIN before any of this stuff is installed because I know that ubuntu is going to try to take away from the C partition again - which has already been reduced by this install of ubuntu.

All very exasperating! I wonder if my HD is on its last legs and that is the problem?

Oh, this is weird too. After a heck of a lot of trouble getting CDs to boot in prior days, they are booting just fine now and I have had to do a heck of a lot of times!

Well, hopefully this install works and windows still works and I can then leave well enough alone!

Update: Installing finished and I've booted into both Ubuntu and Windows several times successfully. I assume the partitions are what I set. I'll check after I go online with the PC and get the updates and Gparted. I suspect the swap partition will be small again since it always has been, but after all my trouble making changes, I don't think I want to touch anything! I have the C and data partitions named, but not the Ubuntu stuff so I guess I'll see about doing that.

Assuming no more surprises - like my HD deciding to mess up on its own, the big stuff should finally (!!!!!) be over. If not, I may drop the darn think out my apartment window (7 stories up!).

You mention getting flash, but if I'm not using the PC for online use normally (other than updating all this stuff), does that really matter?

Thanks for all the help. Hopefully I won't need any more major help - but if you can tell me how to upgrade to Open Office 3, that would be a nice final touch - hardware and main software ready to experiment with. When I've selected this in the application list and did all the updating I know about, I still end up with version 2.4. If it is something I'm supposed to download as a file to the desktop and double-click to load, I can do that (probably get it on the mac and transfer it by thumb drive), but I'm not sure if that is the way it's supposed to be done.

Well, time to send this, disconnect, plug the PC into the internet and do all the new programs and updating for the third time!

[Evildave]

Flash ain't real important. Just in case you do some browsing.

http://news.softpedi...-10-96449.shtml

[dabigkahuna]

WHEW! Everything updated (except Open Office).

12 GB windows

9+ GB Ubuntu

6 GB data

Those may not be the best settings, but they should be, at least, acceptable for a secondary computer. My pictures, movies, music will all be on my mac. I'm sure not going to do any changes in those partitions as long as it works! I've reinstalled Windows twice and Ubuntu at least 5 times (three times updating all the stuff afterwards). That doesn't count the many times I was booting the CDs (PM, Ubuntu, Windows) to try to figure something out) - all of which is very slow.

I looked briefly at the link about Open Office. Seems you can update it now, but the writers plan to come out with one that will do so the normal way. I think, rather than get into more complications right now, I'll save this info in case I really need it quick, but otherwise, wait for a normal upgrade to be released for Ubuntu 8.19.

Oh, I got NTFSprog, but never could find NTFS-config.

"Places" shows two partitions (Windows and Data). But nothing that is clearly the Ubuntu partition. Is that the thing called "Filesystem"?

Thanks again.

[Evildave]

File System is the root of the Ubuntu file system. Basically /.
You don't see the Ubuntu partition because it's mounted as /.

Go to Applications->Add/Remove and type ntfs-config into the search box, and wait a few seconds. It SHOULD pop up. You might have had one category highlighted (not 'ALL') when you did the search.

Now get yourself 'Clonzilla Live' CD ISO and BACK THAT SH UP!

You can back up the whole disk, or individual partitions. It doesn't handle moving/resizing partitions well, so you may as well back up the whole image onto an external USB2 drive. That way, if something 'terrible' happens, you can be back up and running in a few minutes again, or a few minutes after you replace the drive.

[dabigkahuna]

> File System is the root of the Ubuntu file system. Basically /. <

Okay, so it would be like, in Windows, opening up the C partition, but in this case, it is where I installed Ubuntu, right (I hope I'm right or I'm going to be confused!).

> You don't see the Ubuntu partition because it's mounted as /. <

So instead of seeing windows C partition, it would be like going right to the root files and folders?

I noticed the "/" in GParted. Can that be removed so it shows "normally" (from a Windows perspective)? Or is it best not to even if you can?

NTFS-config never showed up and I did select "All". I remember the other day with an earlier install, I couldn't find NTFSprog, but this time I did so it may be something I'm doing wrong, but I don't see what it could be!

> Now get yourself 'Clonzilla Live' CD ISO and BACK THAT SH UP! <

I've been trying to figure that part out (never did a ghost of a partition before (I assume that's what you are talking about). My drive only allows writing to CD, not DVD, and, as you've seen, my HD space is rather limited too.

With the stuff I've added to Ubuntu (and soon, Windows when I add Office), I would question where I could save it!

I have thought that, if these are saved as files, that I could save to my 6 gb data partition, move the file to a thumbdrive (I have an 8 gb one), Then to my Mac, then copy to a DVD. Then I could erase the file from my data partition and repeat with the other OS partition. Is this possible or is this just not how these things work?

I do have an old external drive, but it started giving lots of errors years ago, damaging files, even after I formatted it again, so I no longer use it.

A new drive is one of the things I'm considering (along with Time Capsule for my Mac), but I don't have the money right now - maybe in a couple months.

[dabigkahuna]

I can't believe this. I must be jinked. I was looking at some things under applications and stuff to find some "Safe" (as in I may understand them) to check out. Choosing some seemed to do nothing. Others opened a window, but never showed anything in it (like screen saver - which I know worked with an earlier installation). I even tried the calculator and just got a box, no calculator.

So I restart, but as it begins that process, it has a message at the bottom saying it was an "unclean shutdown" and it is running a test. Then it switches to a text screen saying the check failed but I entered the name of the command it showed to run it (also apparently in text mode). Over and over again it kept asking my approval for some fix by pressing "Y". It got so bad, I just held by finger on the "Y" key for minutes at a time. In short, it never worked and turning off and rebooting just repeated the process.

It still would boot to Windows and that calculator worked, but I'm beginning to think my hd is failing. Don't know of anything to do next, short of gettnig a new HD - money I really don't want to spend. Besides, I had opened the cover to the HD last week and it looks far more complicated than my prior computer where it just stlid out. This has a bunch of wires or something which made no sense to me.

Good thing I bought the mac a few months ago!

[Evildave]

It does sound like it's limping quite a bit.

If you were to mount the Ubuntu partition in Windows (with an ext2/ext3 driver), it would show up as 'F:' (or whatever drive letter) with the contents of the drive.

In Windoze, you actually can mount drives into folders like Linux. Just so you know. It's buried in the partition manager details.

Hmm... Looks like the thing pictured in their tech manual?

http://support.dell....en/sm/index.htm

Most likely it does come out of the 'caddy' pretty easily. Lots of people sell just the caddy, and some sell the drives already installed in it. It looks like the typical mess of unscrewing it from the caddy and transferring the connector board from one IDE drive to the other.

http://www.google.com/products?q=DellInspiron5100HardDrive

http://www.pricewatch.com/hardremovabledrives/

It would need to be an IDE/ATA drive, NOT an SATA drive (too new).

http://search.pricew...m/search?q=DellInspiron5100&cn=Hard%2FRemovable+Drives

Looks like you can get a 60GB one that'll work for $65

http://www.pricewatch.com/hardremovabledrives/

And you can get an external 500GB USB drive for $62. Enough space to back up all your computers (into different directory trees).

So, the next time you have $130 or so, you can fix all of your hard drive and backup problems.

The external drives are all much the same. A hard drive (one of only a handfull of brands) and a plastic enclosure with a protocol converter, USB cable and a wall wart. You can pay $62 for a 500MB USB2 drive, or go to a store and pay $300 for a prettier plastic box around the same hard drive. You can also just order the box and be picky about the kind of drive, but make sure the box takes the same plug (IDE vs SATA) as the drive. One minute with a screwdriver assembles it. They're very simple.

[dabigkahuna]

Don't think I want to get into yet another way to run Ubuntu on the PC. There would still be the HD problem which may well affect the windows stuff too, especially if I make it bigger to fit the Ubuntu folder.

I downloaded the UBCD and tried to see if I could low level format the drive in case that would take care of any bad sectors, but I didn't find anything. It might be there, but as I was checking, at some point I ended up with the A:/> prompt. I have no A: drive so I had to shut it off and then try booting again.

And wouldn't you know it, it is back to not booting the CD again. So I can't check further until it boots - if it ever does.

BTW, thanks for the Dell link - I screwed up and must have been looking at something else. I didn't realize the HD was stuck in with the slot for the PC card!

Just don't see a lot of reason to even spend $65 on another internal drive when the computer was really just to serve as a backup and a way to experiment with Ubuntu and there may well be other problems.

In fact, I've always had some suspicions about that machine. The USB ports are not nearly as good as on my Mac even though both are version 2.0. On my PC, I had to plug in the laser printer and the wireless keyboard/mouse sensor directly into the computer (though to be fair, the keyboard/mouse docs say that is the case). No hub, even with its own power supply, ever worked with these things. But on the mac, I can use a hub, even without power, and plug both and other things into it just fine.

I also bought a PC card with two additional USB slots but it never worked on my machine.

Heck, I can buy a new machine at Best Buy for $400 so, if I really want to have a PC for a backup, I can probably find a used one that is better than mine for less than that. But I won't be doing that now. I'm still paying for my Mac! Got 180 days without interest so I'm taking advantage of that so I can put more money into my mortgage sooner. Figure a couple more monts before I'm back to normal.

Well, assuming I can't get this HD working, I have at least learned some things (no, patience was not one of them!). And if I do decide to use Ubuntu on my Mac or PC again, I'm slightly more familiar with it.

If I put it on my Mac, is the process the same - select install and it creates whatever partitions it needs? Might look at virtualization. That wasn't important on the PC as a backup, but since I used the Mac all the time, it would be a bigger factor with it.