01-05-2015, 08:46 PM
Hey gold_finger 
Thanks for the assistance. Something I just noticed on the Lenovo site for my machine is a BIOS update.
Should I consider flashing it before getting started?
These are the two problems this update fixes from the previous version:
-Fix manufacturing process slow download speed issue.
- (Fix) Fixed the issue that bluetooth can't be turned off by setup menu issue.
Not sure if they seem critical, but I don't know. I'm more of the "pedal to the medal I wish LL was installed so I could run GIMP now" type ;P
On creating the recovery backup:
It's got a big 1TB, which I could clone over to a spare seagate that I have. I haven't messed around in there or downloaded much since buying it, so it's basically at factory install status at the moment. Hopefully shouldn't take too long to clone over.
Another thing I was wondering: This u530 has a hybrid setup with the 1TB HDD and it's 16GB SSD cache, not even sure where to begin with that yet. I guess just leave the spare SSD alone during the entire defrag and shrinking process?
As far as creating the Live USB goes, this machine has no cd drive (seems to be a trend nowadays), so I'll give Unetbootin a shot. I used to create everything with YUMI, but I think it's been deprecated.
Will report back as soon as the cloning over is through.
As for my general level of experience in Linux:
I've been running in Linux every day for about a year. Though it did take a solid month to finally get the install on this Compaq running smoothly. I've currently got this install setup with an extended partition, home drive separated from the root, and eventually just deleted the swap so now it looks like a strange mess in gparted. I have the vista file system mounting on startup in my user's home folder so I can access the files if I need to from linux. But it doesn't work the other way around (windows can't be booted into and freely access the linux partition because it's ext-4 i believe).
I'd be fine with a similar setup, I currently don't plan on being in Windows much and when I would be, I wouldn't need access to the files I'd have in my Linux user's folders.
Back in a bit with an update and the output of parted, thanks again!
Thanks for the assistance. Something I just noticed on the Lenovo site for my machine is a BIOS update. Should I consider flashing it before getting started?
These are the two problems this update fixes from the previous version:
-Fix manufacturing process slow download speed issue.
- (Fix) Fixed the issue that bluetooth can't be turned off by setup menu issue.
Not sure if they seem critical, but I don't know. I'm more of the "pedal to the medal I wish LL was installed so I could run GIMP now" type ;P
On creating the recovery backup:
It's got a big 1TB, which I could clone over to a spare seagate that I have. I haven't messed around in there or downloaded much since buying it, so it's basically at factory install status at the moment. Hopefully shouldn't take too long to clone over.
Another thing I was wondering: This u530 has a hybrid setup with the 1TB HDD and it's 16GB SSD cache, not even sure where to begin with that yet. I guess just leave the spare SSD alone during the entire defrag and shrinking process?
As far as creating the Live USB goes, this machine has no cd drive (seems to be a trend nowadays), so I'll give Unetbootin a shot. I used to create everything with YUMI, but I think it's been deprecated.
Will report back as soon as the cloning over is through.
As for my general level of experience in Linux:
I've been running in Linux every day for about a year. Though it did take a solid month to finally get the install on this Compaq running smoothly. I've currently got this install setup with an extended partition, home drive separated from the root, and eventually just deleted the swap so now it looks like a strange mess in gparted. I have the vista file system mounting on startup in my user's home folder so I can access the files if I need to from linux. But it doesn't work the other way around (windows can't be booted into and freely access the linux partition because it's ext-4 i believe).
I'd be fine with a similar setup, I currently don't plan on being in Windows much and when I would be, I wouldn't need access to the files I'd have in my Linux user's folders.
Back in a bit with an update and the output of parted, thanks again!