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#1 2005-02-18 00:58:53

stonecrest
Member
From: Boulder
Registered: 2005-01-22
Posts: 1,190

Hard drive compatability? Linux?

So I'm currently using a Compaq Presario 2105US that I got a year and a half ago. Well I could really use a much smaller laptop and could use some extra cash so I recently bought a used Compaq Armada M300 (the 2105 is ~8lbs, the M300 is ~3.3lbs and much less feature-packed). I'm obviously going to use Arch on it wink and eventually I'm going to sell this Presario.

My question is this. The new laptop comes with a pretty small hard drive. Will I have any problems taking the hard drive out of my current laptop and putting it in the new one? Will I have to do a fresh install of linux? I realize I'll have to change all of my drivers and whatnot but I'd really like to swap hard drives in them, and especially if it doesn't require a fresh linux install.

Anyone ever do anything similar or have any idea?


I am a gated community.

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#2 2005-02-18 11:02:18

Pajaro
Member
Registered: 2004-04-21
Posts: 884

Re: Hard drive compatability? Linux?

I think you won't have any much trouble... especially if using hotplug.

Reconfigure sound, graphics, whatever else and done.

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#3 2005-02-18 11:18:07

arooaroo
Member
From: London, UK
Registered: 2005-01-13
Posts: 1,268
Website

Re: Hard drive compatability? Linux?

Replacing the hard disk itself shouldn't present too many difficulties. Linux will be sure to detect it properly.

However, in terms of replacing, yet not expecting to re-install is a little trickier. It is possible to take a snapshot of your current system and store somewhere else, such as CDs. You then restore the image once you put your new disk in. However, I've not had any experience trying this, and too be honest, I'd probability opt for the fresh install.

Not sure if this helps!

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#4 2005-02-18 11:53:45

tomk
Forum Fellow
From: Ireland
Registered: 2004-07-21
Posts: 9,839

Re: Hard drive compatability? Linux?

Swap over the hard drives, and then boot up the new lappie with Knoppix. Take copies of all the relevant config files - X, alsa, network, etc. Now reboot off the hard drive - you'll probable see various errors as it tried to find non-existent hardware, and encounters non-configured hardware instead. Once you're booted up, copy over the Knoppix configs, or edit the existing ones accordingly.

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#5 2005-02-18 19:25:47

stonecrest
Member
From: Boulder
Registered: 2005-01-22
Posts: 1,190

Re: Hard drive compatability? Linux?

I hadn't thought of trying the LiveCD approach, that's a great idea. Is knoppix considered the best in terms of hardware support? I think I have a xfld (xfce live cd) around here somewhere, I'm not sure if it's based off of knoppix.

If that doesn't work though, the snapshot idea definitely seems like a good way to go.

Anyway, the laptop should be arriving early next week. Thanks for the suggestions! I'll post what worked, or didn't work, in case others ever go down this path.


I am a gated community.

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#6 2005-02-22 12:09:30

tomk
Forum Fellow
From: Ireland
Registered: 2004-07-21
Posts: 9,839

Re: Hard drive compatability? Linux?

Knoppix has never failed me, anyway - Klaus has been doing it a good while now, and his hardware detection is almost always spot-on, IME.

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#7 2005-02-22 15:59:50

incinerator
Member
From: Edinburgh, Scotland
Registered: 2005-02-15
Posts: 80

Re: Hard drive compatability? Linux?

tomk wrote:

Knoppix has never failed me, anyway - Klaus has been doing it a good while now, and his hardware detection is almost always spot-on, IME.

Lemme guess, you don't use much scsi, do you ;-)

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#8 2005-02-23 10:24:48

tomk
Forum Fellow
From: Ireland
Registered: 2004-07-21
Posts: 9,839

Re: Hard drive compatability? Linux?

Correct incinerator - none at all so far. Is that a Knoppix weak point?

I'm hoping to "adopt" an old scsi-based server from work sometime soon, which will serve as my introduction to the technology.

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#9 2005-02-23 17:17:10

incinerator
Member
From: Edinburgh, Scotland
Registered: 2005-02-15
Posts: 80

Re: Hard drive compatability? Linux?

Well, older versions of knoppix used to work well with my scsi cd drives. I think it stopped working with one of the early version that offered a 2.6 kernel as an option.

Cheers,
Dominik

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#10 2005-02-24 02:21:20

journeymanpt
Member
From: michigan
Registered: 2005-01-28
Posts: 24

Re: Hard drive compatability? Linux?

if  you want a differentt look  try gnoppix, its pretty much same but it uuses gnome, if thats what your use to, its great,

http://www.gnoppix.org

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#11 2005-05-02 14:30:45

Michel
Member
From: Belgium
Registered: 2004-07-31
Posts: 286

Re: Hard drive compatability? Linux?

Heya,

during the period I used Mandrake a while back I bought a dvd-writer. The problem was that windows wouldn't recognize it. I suppose because it was as a slave on the controller where linux was installed on the harddrive connected as the master-connection or something.

Anyway, I had the switch all 4 ide-drives (2 hardddrives, 1 cdrom and the new dvd-writer). I don't know how much I switched them in the end ... , but I disconnected all 4 I believe.

Anyway, when I booted back into Mandrake, Mandrake recognized the switches that happened and proposed how to map them to the old mountpoints (the default mappings were ok I think). I was quite impressed at  that moment ...

Michel

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