Want to reinstall into smaller partition

AddRAM · 13 Nov 2018

roy111 · 13 Nov 2018

Odysseus said:

Dell XPS i7 16GB, 1TB HDD

I have been trying (for way too many hours now) to shrink the existing OS partition to approx 100GB (more on this later) and have decided to stop beating my head against a wall. No matter what options I choose, it just will not shrink to less than 600+GB.

So I now want to reinstall Win 10 on my HDD, put the OS in one partition, and use the balance for win data files and linux data files (each of these two in their own partitions). Linux will be on a separate SSD and I want to dual boot.

When I do a clean reinstall, will I have an option in that process to make a partition for Win 10 OS (and the two data partitions), or should I reformat the HDD and make the three partitions first and install into one of them (presumably the first?)? If the latter, what software is best for this partitioning?

I do not plan to use Win 10 much but want to keep it alive and there for when I do want it. Given that the Win OS and Win data will reside on two different partitions, how much room do I need for the OS?

any other observations/guidance welcomed.

With dual boot windows and Linux (expecially windows 8.1 & 10) you are looking for trouble.
You have to disable fast boot in windows if you want less trouble.

Also be aware that some Linux tools or application will not work properly in a NTFS

Since you have 16 Gb ram you can consider using a virtual machine for linux in a windows host, or the other way around, with the host being your most used OS.

If you have a spare PC, with at least 4Gb ram, you could dedicate that to linux.

HTH.

Odysseus · 13 Nov 2018

AndreTen, Is Macrium better than the Windows tool? Please elaborate as I want to learn. Thanks

---------------

AddRAM, I am shopping for a new 256GB SSD as the 128 (+/-) that I have is a first generation and I think it is probably wise to invest in later, and hopefully more stable technology. I note that the price in your link at $100 is approximately 2 to 3 times more expensive than many competing drives (some of them Samsung), so I surmise that you think that price is good value. Any information/opinion on this, along with any "must have" specifications, would be very timely for me. Thanks.

Odysseus · 13 Nov 2018

Roy, Thanks for the heads up on fast boot. Will disable.

The Windows related partitions are NTFS, and the linux related are/will be EXT4.

A virtual machine may be both too adventurous for me, and maybe not compatible with my style of computer use, which is pedestrian (and probably not what others might advise.) I use 8 workplaces, each covering a different use/need, and I leave one or more instances of browsers open, each with multiple tabs, in each workplace so that I can instantly move between subjects and go straight to where I left off earlier. The computer only gets rebooted when it runs out of RAM and gets congested (which is fairly often with all that stuff open). I may be incurring a security risk of some sort by doing this and would welcome any comments, whether security or other.

Finally, Windows on the HDD is EUFI. At the risk of exposing how little I know about this stuff, any guidance (from you and/or others) on whether EUFI or BIOS would be better (assuming this is possible.) for the SDD with linux would be great. Thanks.

Bree · 13 Nov 2018

Odysseus said:

Is Macrium better than the Windows tool?

The windows tool for making system images is Backup & Restore (Windows 7). This has never been totally reliable and has been a deprecated feature for over a year now. Even Microsoft say you should use something else...

Microsoft said:

System Image Backup (SIB) Solution
We recommend that users use full-disk backup solutions from other vendors.

Features removed or Deprecated in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update

Macrium it the solution most here trust and recommend.

How much do you trust Macrium Reflect? - Windows 10 Forums

Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect | Tutorials

AndreTen · 13 Nov 2018

Odysseus said:

AndreTen, Is Macrium better than the Windows tool? Please elaborate as I want to learn. Thanks

---------------

AddRAM, I am shopping for a new 256GB SSD as the 128 (+/-) that I have is a first generation and I think it is probably wise to invest in later, and hopefully more stable technology. I note that the price in your link at $100 is approximately 2 to 3 times more expensive than many competing drives (some of them Samsung), so I surmise that you think that price is good value. Any information/opinion on this, along with any "must have" specifications, would be very timely for me. Thanks.

Bree said:

The windows tool for making system images is Backup & Restore (Windows 7). This has never been totally reliable and has been a deprecated feature for over a year now. Even Microsoft say you should use something else...

Features removed or Deprecated in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update

Macrium it the solution most here trust and recommend.

How much do you trust Macrium Reflect? - Windows 10 Forums

Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect | Tutorials

like Bree said, it's used here extensively. I could put it this way: Never used simpler, more reliable tool for backup. Has great support, a lot of users here (you're gonna get instant advice on any question) and the free version is good enough for most users

Imagine, you're searching just for one file from backup.... mount backup image (like ISO), copy that exact file and go.

You can extract any partition from whole backup and replace just that one... endless possibilities.

DreadLord · 13 Nov 2018

100 for SATA SSD? Price of NVMEs have dropped considerably, for £119 I can get a 500Gb Samsung 970 evo from Amazon UK, will be even cheaper elsewhere. Makes Windows so much more usable.

AddRAM · 14 Nov 2018

Odysseus said:

AndreTen, Is Macrium better than the Windows tool? Please elaborate as I want to learn. Thanks

---------------

AddRAM, I am shopping for a new 256GB SSD as the 128 (+/-) that I have is a first generation and I think it is probably wise to invest in later, and hopefully more stable technology. I note that the price in your link at $100 is approximately 2 to 3 times more expensive than many competing drives (some of them Samsung), so I surmise that you think that price is good value. Any information/opinion on this, along with any "must have" specifications, would be very timely for me. Thanks.

If you can find a Samsung 860 Pro 256GB somewhere else cheaper than samsung.com including any tax and any shipping then buy it, a lot of others and myself would only recommend buying a Samsung.

And DreadLord mentions a 970 Evo, not a 970 Pro M.2, although a Evo is fine ( I have 2 ) it`s not a Pro

It`s all about how much you wanna spend, and as always, research before you buy anything.

Odysseus · 14 Nov 2018

Hate to have to ask for help on this, but I really don't understand the SSD terminology well enough, and so far my considerable online research is not finding an answer to: "Will my Dell XPS Desktop 6L08S15 i7-4790 3.60Ghz accept a NVMe SSD without an adapter?" (and multiple exhaustive variations of the above).

How should I frame my search wording with the right variables to get the answer? Thanks

AndreTen · 14 Nov 2018

Odysseus said:

Hate to have to ask for help on this, but I really don't understand the SSD terminology well enough, and so far my considerable online research is not finding an answer to: "Will my Dell XPS Desktop 6L08S15 i7-4790 3.60Ghz accept a NVMe SSD without an adapter?" (and multiple exhaustive variations of the above).

How should I frame my search wording with the right variables to get the answer? Thanks

You should ask, if your M.2 slot for SSD is PCIe or SATA. But from your CPU (series 4xxx) I would guess that no, it won't accept NVMe without adapter.