Sialer The New kid and His Linux Life....:D

Sialer · 2008-07-09 03:07:42

Ok, So I'm a dumb American and you are all allowed to laugh when I baffle you with my computer illiteracy. Feel free to insult me daily. My universal online name is sialer and my real name is Aaron. I'm Very ignorant to all things computer except for games.(typical Americans). So guys as my first dumb question please tell me.

Is there any way that I can save my movies and music on my computer without laboriously transferring them off then re-transferring them back on after I install Linux?

By the way I would like to give mad props and kudos to one of my friends who is apparently a cool kid on the block.
I won't say his name but I'm sure he will post her and once I get his permission I will shout him out.

Thanks for listening to my nonsense please respond, sincerely Sialer

Last edited by Sialer (2008-09-18 19:23:20)

Stythys · 2008-07-09 03:26:50

transferring and re-transferring? You mean on like a spare hard drive and back? That's how I would do it...I don't see what's so "laborious" about it.

dr.cranium · 2008-07-09 03:51:08

You could just dualboot and use two partitions? Keep your stuff where it is and install Linux on another partition. I hope you're not considering Arch as your first linux foray. You might end up frustrated.

Sialer · 2008-07-09 05:39:00

Thanks for the help so far. In my forum virginity I have clearly made a grave error, ambiguity. What I mean is that I have like 40 gigs of music and movies and I would not like to burn them to disks or paste them onto other USB drives. I would like to know how I can protect these articles from deletion without sparing any part of my computer from the wrath called LINUX. I know dr. cranium has answered this question but I fail to understand how to do that effectively. I do believe that there are options in the Arch installation guide that talks about partitioning and if thats what you mean then I do but if not I'm slightly baffled.

And to my embarrassment this is my first Linux foray so to say. I have a lot of patience for computers and I have a mac also so I will still have access to any resources that I might need. Not that macs are amazing machines but they have what I will need to make it through the wait that it will take to install Arch.

Thanks for your responses, Sialer

klixon · 2008-07-09 06:52:56

How about an external harddrive?
Just mount it somewhere and save your files there. You can even take it to friends

Last edited by klixon (2008-07-09 06:53:51)

Sialer · 2008-07-09 07:07:14

I'm not personally sure so I must ask. Would it be able to read the files? and would it have to format the disk before reading?

klixon · 2008-07-09 08:36:05

Most come preformatted to fat32 i think, so you can read/write without problems in both linux and windows.
I don't think they come with NTFS, which is good thing, because write support to NTFS is not quite there yet, last i heard...

wiki-page on USB-storage devices, with directions to make a fat32 filesystem, if necessary (do not enter those mkfs entries without thinking... replace with the device names your box is using )
wiki-page on how to mount it as a user

Last edited by klixon (2008-07-09 08:37:29)

Zeist · 2008-07-09 08:49:04

klixon wrote:

Most come preformatted to fat32 i think, so you can read/write without problems in both linux and windows.
I don't think they come with NTFS, which is good thing, because write support to NTFS is not quite there yet, last i heard...

Actually, with fuse or ntfs-3g writing to NTFS drives from Linux is perfectly safe.

klixon · 2008-07-09 08:57:43

True, but would you recommend that to someone who, in his own words is "Very ignorant to all things computer except for games"

robmaloy · 2008-07-09 10:12:33

klixon wrote:

True, but would you recommend that to someone who, in his own words is "Very ignorant to all things computer except for games"

to someone who describes himself in that way, i would recommend using windows or buying a PS3 or wii

Last edited by robmaloy (2008-07-09 10:12:57)

Asgaroth · 2008-07-09 10:26:51

klixon wrote:

True, but would you recommend that to someone who, in his own words is "Very ignorant to all things computer except for games"

Well apart from installing fuse, there's not much difference between using a NTFS-partition or any other fs.

tigrmesh · 2008-07-09 15:11:03

I use Gnome as my desktop environment (DE), and my ntfs partition is mounted with read and write privileges. I have no problem saving files to that partition, and i can access them later using either windows or linux.

@Sialer,
Consider dual-booting windows and linux. That way, if you have problems with either OS, you can still use your machine. It takes a little longer to set up because you defrag your windows partition in order to shrink it, and it's not that much more difficult to set up than a linux-only install.

faelar · 2008-07-09 20:18:26

I'm not sure Arch is the right choice for you (at least, now). Arch could be use as a first linux, but only by someone with some knowledge of computer things like partionning a harddrive, what is a filesystem etc...
So here you have two options :
- First, you're interested in learning things about computer, you are not affraid to broke your system, and you can handle wrong steps quietly
- You would like to give linux a try, but you want it to work out-of-the-box, and you prefer a slow learning curve.

In the first case, you're ready for Arch, our community will help you to become a power-linux-user, and you're going to have fun
Or, I suggest to you to try an "easiest" linux distribution like :
ubuntu, openSUSE, mandriva, fedora etc... (http://distrowatch.com/ for the most common distributions and others)
And when you will feel confortable enought with linux, you can come back to Arch

I believe we can help you to choose the right distribution, just tell us what you are expecting from it.

Last edited by faelar (2008-07-09 20:18:58)

Sialer · 2008-07-09 20:49:57

Really what I want is to cut through all the red tape and jump directly into the crash course of Arch. That maybe not preferable for most but I certainly have the patience and I do understand the partitioning part of computers. Lol. Maybe I was a bit modest when I said "Very ignorant to all things computer except for games". I meant to say more along the lines of ignorant to specifics and special tricks. Partitioning (I thought) was widely known even among novices.

I do understand partitioning and thanks everyone for setting me straight. you have been a huge help and thank you
everyone for you input and expertise on the matter.

Thanks again, Sialer

Last edited by Sialer (2008-07-09 20:52:48)

Hohoho · 2008-07-12 15:22:47

You just need to resize your partitions (using Partition Magic for eg.) so a Linux root partition and a swap partition (512mb is enough mostly for anybody,unless you have <1gb memory) can fit. While installing Arch it's best to manage partitioning manually, its not hard, you just specify where the root and swap will be.
FAT32 is perfectly readable and writable from Linux.
NTFS too, only you'll have to install additional tools.

If this is your first Linux distro you're gonna have a hard time overall, better start with something more out of the box ready as already was suggested.

floke · 2008-07-12 15:49:29

I admire your spirit!

I advise having a copy of sysresccd to hand for partitioning etc. (use gparted to create the partitions - ext3 for linux - make a root ('/') and a swap partition as advised above)- http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page
Then read through the Arch install guide so you know what to expect.
Grab the download and see how far you get.

We'll be here if you screw it up.

Good luck.

** EDIT - best thing really would be to try some live cds - eg ubuntu, mandriva, suse, mint etc. , from distrowatch - but you seem determined to go the Arch route, so have fun **

Last edited by floke (2008-07-12 15:51:03)

Stalafin · 2008-07-13 09:06:44

I wouldn't agree on the Partition Magic Part mentioned by Hohoho... Well, it might work, but from what I heard about it it might actually screw up your Windows installation... but well.

Personally, I would second the people who suggested you to try some other, more beginner friendly distributions first. Particularly there are Ubuntu (who didn't hear of Ubuntu?) and Mandriva which supposedly is the easiest out there to use (I didn't try it myself though, just heard it from people who were really impressed by it compared to Ubuntu).

So, for purposes of backing up your stuff you should go for an external HDD - the most convenient, yet cheap solution.

If you really plan to go on with Arch (actually, it's not THAT hard in the end) I would suggest you to read the Beginner's Guide! You can find it in the wiki, and it has been made available on the latest release of Archlinux (06.2008).

See here: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beg … umentation

Last edited by Stalafin (2008-07-13 09:07:13)

Arch Linux

#1 2008-07-09 03:07:42

Sialer The New kid and His Linux Life....:D

#2 2008-07-09 03:26:50

Re: Sialer The New kid and His Linux Life....:D

#3 2008-07-09 03:51:08

Re: Sialer The New kid and His Linux Life....:D

#4 2008-07-09 05:39:00

Re: Sialer The New kid and His Linux Life....:D

#5 2008-07-09 06:52:56

Re: Sialer The New kid and His Linux Life....:D

#6 2008-07-09 07:07:14

Re: Sialer The New kid and His Linux Life....:D

#7 2008-07-09 08:36:05

Re: Sialer The New kid and His Linux Life....:D

#8 2008-07-09 08:49:04

Re: Sialer The New kid and His Linux Life....:D

#9 2008-07-09 08:57:43

Re: Sialer The New kid and His Linux Life....:D

#10 2008-07-09 10:12:33

Re: Sialer The New kid and His Linux Life....:D

#11 2008-07-09 10:26:51

Re: Sialer The New kid and His Linux Life....:D

#12 2008-07-09 15:11:03

Re: Sialer The New kid and His Linux Life....:D

#13 2008-07-09 20:18:26

Re: Sialer The New kid and His Linux Life....:D

#14 2008-07-09 20:49:57

Re: Sialer The New kid and His Linux Life....:D

#15 2008-07-12 15:22:47

Re: Sialer The New kid and His Linux Life....:D

#16 2008-07-12 15:49:29

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#17 2008-07-13 09:06:44

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