'Hiding' a drive from Linux..?

JustAnotherSaver

Well this one has been sorted - by not being sorted.

Created a bootable USB drive using this guide https://linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/burn.html & Etcher.

Used an 8GB USB drive. Once it was 'finished' it had taken the 2.1GB .iso, spent forever & a day creating the bootable drive & once it was finished there was only about 300MB (yes, MB) written to the drive. My Computer said this was the capacity now too.

I go in to disk management to find 7.whatever GB is now unallocated.

So thinking this doesn't sound right, I then use Rufus - which creates a 2GB bootable drive.

Stick in the drive to install Linux (already installed Windows 10), choose the first option - nothing. The screen pops up the same message I get when the monitor is getting no signal from the PC & it remains black. Try again - no go.

Create bootable CD - same issue.

Back to USB, I then try the second option which I forget the exact wording but hopefully you know - loads of text on the screen and this starts up Linux.

Install  Linux to the drive, restart & get to a crappy boot menu that's just text instead of a nice GUI where I can pick

1) Linux

2) a second option which I forget

3) Windows 10.

I select 1) Linux and the monitor goes black once again.

So sod this carry on. I'll install it to my other SSD when it becomes spare (and if it'll install) and then connect to the PC as and when via an eSata cable.

[Deleted User]

JustAnotherSaver said:

Created a bootable USB drive using this guide https://linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/burn.html & Etcher.

Used an 8GB USB drive. Once it was 'finished' it had taken the 2.1GB .iso, spent forever & a day creating the bootable drive & once it was finished there was only about 300MB (yes, MB) written to the drive. My Computer said this was the capacity now too.

I go in to disk management to find 7.whatever GB is now unallocated.

So thinking this doesn't sound right, I then use Rufus - which creates a 2GB bootable drive.

This does sound exactly right - you are over thinking things.

The USB stick will be partitioned, the first partition will be FAT file system which will boot the Linux installer environment so that will only need to be about small. The next partition will be EXT3 or EXT4 which is the Linux file system used to install the OS - this is not readable by Windows so will be invisible and will appear unallocated.

If you booted off this drive you would have been ok.

Dual booting can be a little tricky though and you do need to understand how to configure things properly for it to work. I have dual boot but Linux is on a 2nd SSD to keep the Windows boot manager clean. When I power on the PC it loads Windows by default but if I press F12 on the boot screen I can select the Linux OS. 

JustAnotherSaver

Well you're supposed to be able to use Rufus to make a bootable USB, so I don't see the difference myself as I just did what the guide told me. So whether I use Etcher, Rufus or a CD, the end result should in theory be the same as the guides don't say A is a 100% success rate, B is 50%, C is 25% where you probably wont be able to install it.

I think all in all, I'll not really use Linux much. I was only really doing it out of curiosity, plus I would've had ample space left on my Windows OS drive.

I've just ordered a new drive which is 6TB. It'll allow me to get rid of 2x 2TB drives that I have in the machine at the moment.

Which brings me to the point - have hard drive prices shot up or something?

A few years ago, I picked up a 6TB Seagate Ironwolf 7200RPM no problem. I can't find the receipt but I know I wont have paid anything eye watering for it.

Looking for drives now and it seems if you want 7200RPM then things are extremely expensive. I had no trouble getting 7200RPM last time round.

Was going to pick up a 4TB WD Blue I think it was but the reports were of an incredibly noisy drive.

In the end I opted for a Seagate Compute 6TB. Far from top of the range but at £110 and it only being used as a file dump, I couldn't really say no.

Back on topic, once I get that drive which will replace the 2x 2TB drives

The 1TB SSD with Windows 10 on it will replace my 256GB SSD with Windows 7 on it

The 256GB SSD can then get formatted and have Linux put on it connected via eSata as and when.

Unless I decide to leave Windows 7 on the drive & use an ollllllllllllllllllld 60GB SSD, my very first SSD, and put Linux on that. Wont leave a whole lot of room left but it'll get me experience of it.

JustAnotherSaver

@[Deleted User] If i want to connect my SSD via eSata, I just want to check I'm looking at the right cable...

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socketAM3/M4A88TD-V-EVO-USB3/E5888_M4A88TD-V-EVO-USB3_V2.zip That's my motherboard. That'll bring you to a zip download. If you don't want to go there directly then you can try https://www.asus.com/SupportOnly/M4A88TDV_EVOUSB3/HelpDesk_Manual/

Anyway it seems I have an eSata port at the rear.

So checking the cables on Amazon, I see

This one ... I don't think it's this one as it seems to say it needs to be an eSatap?

and this one. I think this is the cable I need?

[Deleted User]

JustAnotherSaver said:

Well you're supposed to be able to use Rufus to make a bootable USB, so I don't see the difference myself as I just did what the guide told me. So whether I use Etcher, Rufus or a CD, the end result should in theory be the same as the guides don't say A is a 100% success rate, B is 50%, C is 25% where you probably wont be able to install it.

Yes, and it will work with Rufus as well, as you discovered, the second option which is direct disk image is the one you need but you had gone off script at this point by not following the tried and tested Linux Mint installation guide so you are on your own.

I'd respectfully suggest Linux and dual boot isn't for you if things like this are frustrating. You are entering a technical realm where trial and error, time and patience are needed. I wouldn't be doing things like this on my main "production" PC anyway, it is too easy to brick the whole thing with dual booting leading to many hours of reinstalling or restoring from backup.

I've learned how to do these things over the years on my old PC's which I can tear down and rebuild and have out of action without any impact or stress when I break things. It is good to have a practice PC for things like this.

There is a lot of other config to consider with dual boot including the BIOS/UEFI settings, secure boot, partitions, boot managers and so on. Your chipset is now 12+ years old on the motherboard as well, lots of things could be an issue.

JustAnotherSaver said:

I think all in all, I'll not really use Linux much. I was only really doing it out of curiosity, plus I would've had ample space left on my Windows OS drive.

I think you'd give up on Linux very quickly. It has a place in the world of computing but not for end users that just want things to work with a few clicks, but then again you might actually appreciate Microsoft Windows more if you master Linux. 

One of my lockdown project involved building a headless Linux server (command line only, no GUI) running a few dozen automation apps and websites, it was a great learning experience but incredibly frustrating and took several weeks. I recently rebuilt it on a Windows platform and had it all up and running plus more in just 1 weekend.

Anyway, if you are just curious, you can run Linux from a USB stick, it won't have the best performance but you can get the feel for it without risking messing up your production PC.

JustAnotherSaver said:

Which brings me to the point - have hard drive prices shot up or something?

Looking for drives now and it seems if you want 7200RPM then things are extremely expensive. I had no trouble getting 7200RPM last time round.

Yes, they have, normally HDD storage gets cheaper per TB each year but instead they've levelled or in some cases risen over the past 2 years due to the usual "covid component shortages".

7,200 rpm drives aren't as popular now for home storage as SSD's take over the workload that requires fast drives. For mass storage then 5,400 rpm will perform well.

You can still pick up a 6TB Ironwolf (CMR) for about £135 though but the Barracuda (SMR) one you have chosen should be ok for just archive / backup purposes.

CMR vs SMR technology. 
https://www.howtogeek.com/803276/cmr-vs.-smr-hard-drives-whats-the-difference/

[Deleted User]

JustAnotherSaver said:

@[Deleted User] If i want to connect my SSD via eSata, I just want to check I'm looking at the right cable...

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socketAM3/M4A88TD-V-EVO-USB3/E5888_M4A88TD-V-EVO-USB3_V2.zip That's my motherboard. That'll bring you to a zip download. If you don't want to go there directly then you can try https://www.asus.com/SupportOnly/M4A88TDV_EVOUSB3/HelpDesk_Manual/

Anyway it seems I have an eSata port at the rear.

So checking the cables on Amazon, I see

This one ... I don't think it's this one as it seems to say it needs to be an eSatap?

and this one. I think this is the cable I need?

Ok so not sure, even after looking at the manual but I'd guess it is eSATAp as it is a desktop computer so it has a 12v rail available so first one should be ok.

Check that the motherboard allows boot from eSATA first though, not all allow that.

JustAnotherSaver

You make very good points.

It's all well & good right now as due to one thing & another without delving too much in to it, I have time to play with all this stuff. Once things get back to normal I imagine I will be back to having very little time, even if I manage to tick off all the job lists I have.

Plus when I have an issue (not just computing), I kind of obsess over it until it's rectified. Example - the trouble I had with the Microsoft Media Creation Tool the other day. It was getting late in the day, I should've just gone to bed but I couldn't as then I'd just be laid there thinking I want to get this issue sorted. So I had to get to a point I was satisfied else I wouldn't sleep.

So perhaps Linux is best left alone then.

It's also part reason I'm in 2 minds about totally removing the CPU fan & giving it a clean. I can see the build up on the heatsink BUT it's working right now. If i remove it then there's potential for problems, even if there shouldn't be any - for example, i only unplugged a sata cable from the motherboard the other day. Now the port doesn't work & I've had to buy a new card to give me a sata port to replace it. If I remove the CPU fan to give it a thorough clean and something goes wrong then I'll be just obsessing.

Yeah I was having a read through the reviews on the hard drives & there was a bit of grumbling from people over this whole CMR, SMR thing (whichever one they were grumbling about, can't remember now).