Matthew,
The HP has instructions either on the computer itself or in their manual about how to make a backup set of disks using the installed Win 7. Once you have recovery disks created, in fact, you can probably delete the recovery partition without a big problem. On my ASUS (which replaced an HP this past Summer), I left the recovery partition since it is a relatively small part of the 500 GB drive.
Interestingly enough, GRUB sees the recovery partition as "Windows Vista" but the installed OS as "Windows 7"--which does eliminate any possible confusion about which one is the working install, at any rate.
The worst thing about the factory install, I believe, is all the crapware that goes along with it. For the Windows partition, there is a rather nice free app you can download called "PC De Crapifier" that will remove most of the junk the manufacturers are paid to put on the disk that people don't use. That is also something I routinely do when I get a new machine with a Windows version pre-installed--prior to defragmenting for the rest of the Linux install routine I described earlier. PC De Crapifier will get most of the cruft, but you may still have some things it does not remove that you can use a simple uninstaller to handle. I don't care for the built-in Microsoft version, as it leaves far too much garbage in the Windows Registry--so I usually use a freeware product called Revo Uninstaller that does a far better job. I also have a regular routine on the Windows install that includes defragmenting the registry as part of keeping everything in top shape.
There are utilities out there that will enable you to create your own Windows install minus all the crapware, as I understand it, but I don't use Windows enough these days to bother with it. The only real reason I keep a Windows partition around at all is that I have former clients, relatives, and friends who ask me questions from time to time so having a working setup is helpful in finding answers for them. Otherwise, I'd simply reformat that part of the disk and probably have far fewer problems. At the moment, in fact, I am debating about whether I will bother with Win 7 Service Pack 1 in the near future. It seems like it has very little that'll make much difference, especially to someone like me who rarely boots windows to begin with other than a few hours twice a month for installing updates to Windows and to the various programs I have on it.
Anyway, the Windows install should have very good security set up--both a decent firewall and good antivirus and anti-malware programs installed and up to date. I actually like the most recent Win 7 antivirus that Microsoft has released, but their firewall is pretty bad and I much prefer other anti-malware programs--usually either SuperAntiSpyware or Malwarebytes.
On the Linux side, I don't bother with an anti-virus program but I do have the built-in IPTables firewall configured and working and I have various security programs as browser extensions.
David
--- In LINUX_Newbies@yahoogroups.com, "younger.matthew" <younger.matthew@...> wrote:
>
> OK. Thankyou dbneeley for all of your help. You have been very descriptive of how to do this. Hp does not give me ANY installation disks for windows 7, However they did backup a full copy of windows 7 to a "Recovery Drive" that somehow stores all of the os (not my personal data) to this recoverey drive. so..... is this just a parition that if somthing goes wrong with the install it will erase that too? or I guess what I am asking is.... In the worst case scenario what can I do to get a backup copy of windows 7? I am not paying for it. It came as an extra when it was bought. Im pretty sure you need an install code thing with microsoft is this right? I think there is a backup utility that can make me a copy of the OS. But this seems suspicious, why would microsoft give away a free version of their OS? Or is this just all of my data that it will back up. I am sorry that I still have a lot of questions. I will need my windows for some software that will be essential. If I don't have windows, I am sunk!
>
> --- In LINUX_Newbies@yahoogroups.com, "dbneeley" <dbneeley@> wrote:
> >
> > I believe you left out a few steps that are very helpful.
> >
> > First, I would strongly advise backing up the data you cannot afford to lose--either to an external drive, recordable media like CD or DVD, or perhaps to a cloud-based service like DropBox.
> >
> > Next, it is *always* best to be sure your Windows install is scavenged (or "defragged"). That makes the partitioning step even simpler and more reliable--although it rarely screws up these days, if it should it's a little late to cry over lost data.
> >
> > I would also be sure to have a recovery set of disks for Win 7--most large OEM manufacturers like HP don't ship physical media, but have a routine for creating your own. My ASUS took five DVDs for that purpose, which completely amazed me--but whatever it takes, be sure you have them along with the backed up data just in case. Also, don't forget to know where you can lay hands on installation media or download locations for any applications you have that created and manipulate that data in Windows. That also means making a list of all the serial numbers you might need for those applications--this is extremely helpful for *any* Windows setup, by the way, but is something that is often overlooked and causes incredible hassles in the case of a hardware failure.
> >
> > As for running things like Virtual Box, I find it is a much better strategy to run Windows in a virtual machine hosted by Linux if you want maximum performance. That is because the basic Linux system is rather more efficient than Windows and the combination will tend to run faster.
> >
> > The most straight-forward install, though, is a simple dual boot setup. The partitioning utility in the Mint live CD should be fine. With your freshly defragged Windows partition, there is really very little that would normally go wrong.
> >
> > When you partition the disk, you will need to create a swap partition which works like the virtual memory of Windows, except that Linux uses a separate partition for the purpose and is somewhat more efficient because of it. Conventional wisdom says hyou should make your swap partition about twice the size of your installed RAM; however, with a modern machine you may have two to four gigabytes of RAM or even more in some cases. With that size, I have found that about 1.5 times the RAM amount for swap works fine.
> >
> > As a first install, you will probably put all of the Linux system itself in a single partition. Much depends upon the size of the disk space you are allocating to Linux. On my system, my Win 7 install is allocated a total of about 60 GB--more than I really need, especially since I have a shared partition for data that both the Linux and Windows install can access (which is why it is partitioned as NTFS, since Windows is rather brain-dead as to what formatting it can read. That's a shame, too, since several of the Linux file systems are far more efficient and higher performance than NTFS. Next time I change things, I'll probably eliminate the NTFS outside of the Windows partition itself, so I can go with something substantially more efficient for the rest of the disk.
> >
> > I separate the root partition from the /home partition. Linux can have various parts of its filesystem on separate drives, or on various partitions. Most of the really big files you'll be accumulating are probably going to be things like multimedia files--and the simplest place for them is in the /home hierarchy. By having /home on a separate partition, I can upgrade the Linux version without disturbing the /home stuff at all; the basic root directory stuff is usually reformatted on major updates if you want the cleanest results. By not having to reformat the /home stuff, I avoid a lot of hassle.
> >
> > Thus, I use about twenty GB of root and about 160 at present for /home. I also have a second 20 GB partition I use occasionally to test different versions of Linux. The balance of my 500 GB notebook disk is on the shared NTFS data partition.
> >
> > This may be a bit more elaborate than you would want as a first time user. Much depends upon whether you simply want to experiment a bit or plunge into things on a more committed basis. However, you may well want to do something similar to mine since the bulk of your data could reside either in the Windows partition or in the data partition, and you could access it whether you were in Windows or Linux.
> >
> > Actually, Linux can also access the data in your Windows partition, but I think the best possible practice is to leave that one mostly alone when operating from Linux so you cannot inadvertently do anything that may mess up the Windows install.
> >
> > I also use an external drive to back up my computer onto. It has a full Windows 7 install on it, too, just in case something with the original disk should fail so I can be up and running quickly. Linux is so easy to install that I don't do much special on the backup disk--the balance of the space on it is merely backup storage. The external drive was bought as a bare notebook drive, and I put it in a cheap external enclosure that slips easily into my laptop bag. Thus, should I have a disk failure on the primary laptop disk, I can take out the backup one and slap it in the laptop and be up and running in about fifteen minutes flat.
> >
> > I also have data backed up to a cloud service in case I ever have the computer stolen with the backup drive as well, to give just one possible scenario.
> >
> > Thus, in a small and easily portable CD wallet I keep my recovery disks and any installation media for apps that are not easily downloaded. My external drive is updated to reflect data changes every week or so--I am not doing things that are so critical that I would be in a bad way if I lost only a week's data. My machine is set up to boot either into Linux (the default) or Win 7 from power on--I don't bother with virtual machines.
> >
> > I hope that was sufficient detail to give you some ideas of how you want to proceed. I agree that Mint is a fine choice, although at present I have a Kubuntu install that also has various other graphical environments installed--Gnome, XFCE, LXDM,Enlightenment, and fluxbox to be specific.
> >
> > David
> >
> >
> > --- In LINUX_Newbies@yahoogroups.com, "grantrocket2" <mars_rover@> wrote:
> > >
> > > Ok the sun viritual box is used to have 2 operating systems running at once. So linux mint would be running inside windows. This will obviosly cut down on preformance.
> > > You mentioned linux mint, this is what I use and it is one of the most "newbe" freindly o/s out there. (my opinion)
> > > To safely partition your drive, first turn your computer off.
> > > Put in the linux mint 10 disk and boot from it.
> > > Select start linux mint, in a few minutes the o/s will be running from the disk. No changes have been made to your computer yet.
> > > On the desktop click the "install linux mint" icon.
> > > It asks you a few questions about where you live and such. When it gets to the partitioning part, this is where it gets REALLY easy.
> > > Just drag the slider to give more or less room for windows and linux.
> > > I recomend atleast 40gb for linux, this will fit your o/s and your files confortably.
> > > Continue with the instalation and the installer will walk you through it.
> > > It will install in about 10 to 15 min.
> > > Once it is done shutdown your computer and remove the disk.
> > > Turn your computer on, when it turns on you will have the option to select windows or linux. Select linux and start having fun.
> > >
> > > As for the broadcom wireless chip, chances are it will support it. Support for broadcom has come a LONG way since the old kernal. Most web posts are about the old one. Mint i think has the largest preinstalled selection of drivers. If it doesent' work right out of the box. Feel free to post another question here.
> > >
> > > --- In LINUX_Newbies@yahoogroups.com, "younger.matthew" <younger.matthew@> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Hi, I am totally new to the Linux OS. I have an HP Pavilion Dv4 Laptop that has windows 7 on it. I really do not like Windows. I hear that Linux is supposed to be a good OS. I do not know where to start. I want Linux. I would probably go with Mint since it runs so good with the Sun virtual box. I need to keep windows. CANNOT risk ANY data loss. I know there is a way to partition the Hard Drive to Run both OS but do not know how to do it and it sounds a little risky. Also... I am aware that the Broadcam wireless adapter that is built in to my laptop might not work. This is a big drawback. Is there a solution for this? If not then I have a linksys wireless usb thing that plugs into the computer that might work. But I'd rather have the one that is built in. I need a lot of description! I have NEVER used Linux ever! I hope that there is a Linux genius out there that can help me.
> > > >
> > >
> >
>
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