PC laptop users: do you partition?

Rx · Post by Rx » Wed Jan 08, 2003 10:06 pm

I despise Partition Magic - I used it once and managed to screw things up completely. Granted, it was probably my fault, but fdisk works fine for me.

I'm unclear as to what a 'partition table' is. Is it on the hd, or is it something that the hardware expects? If it's on the hd, why would changing it cause problems?

Like you, I also prefer doing clean OS installs as I generally don't want the crap most manufacturers load. However, my laptop won't be music only, so I also don't like the idea of combining all my apps into one install.

Neil - got any comments about dual-booting with a laptop? And is your last name 'Hennessy,' perchance?

I'm starting a new thread for XP laptop users and this topic...

Hexadecimal · Post by **Hexadecimal** » Thu Jan 09, 2003 12:54 am

It sounds as if Geargasm had a suspend to hard disk partition that was factory installed. Whenever RAM is increased this partition must be resized or the computer can't possible fit the suspension into the allocated size. Back in the day this often required a utility from the OEM.

Personally, I have never used any suspend or hibernate features on any audio computer -- too many chances a programmer for some company (audio, driver, MS) didn't know better and didn't follow the rules for having their software handle suspend or hibernate. Same problem shows up on a lot of wireless networking equipment because a lot of things don't handle the network or the computer "stepping out for a bit" and then coming back.

Many laptops aimed at corporate clients (such as Fujitsus) have special backup and restore features built into small partitions on the hard drives. Changing on deleting these can cause problems unless you've also disabled the OEM installed utility that will use them. They're features for those in the world who never mess with their base configuration, and pains in the butt for those of us who do.

Thankfully, my personal laptops (Sagers and Dells) have never had such things.

Hexadecimal
P.S. You couldn't give me a Compaq. Not without me saying several naughty words anyway.

Rx · Post by Rx » Thu Jan 09, 2003 2:51 am

The suspension or hibernation feature would be something that runs in the background, right? Checking the activity and so forth? In that respect, it really shouldn't be on when using audio apps.

Hexadecimal · Post by **Hexadecimal** » Thu Jan 09, 2003 8:58 am

You can get into hibernate/suspend either by selecting it from the Start Menu or by having it automatically activate after a period of inactivity.

The default settings in Windows activate it after a certain period of inactivity -- it went off on a laptop I had forgotten to turn it off on when I went to lunch one day. Needless to say, the computer would not come out of suspend and I had to hard reboot it.

It's just not a very useful feature unless you're running on batteries, and even then I'd recommend just shutting down and rebooting later.

Hexadecimal
www.freesidemusic.com