Setting up a new x31

[richarddd]

I just ordered a new x31. 1.3ghz, I'll have 768mb and a 60gb 7200 rpm drive.

I'm planning on installing stock XP on the new drive, then installing drivers etc. from IBM's web site.

- any reason to prefer win2k?
- any reason to copy hidden partitions, etc. from the drive that comes with the machine
- does the consensus view favor ntfs over fat32?
- I usually break a drive into partitions, but am thinking of one big partition

Any thoughts or pointers would be appreciated.

[monty cantsin]

I just ordered a new x31. 1.3ghz, I'll have 768mb and a 60gb 7200 rpm drive.

Excellent.

I'm planning on installing stock XP on the new drive, then installing drivers etc. from IBM's web site.

- any reason to prefer win2k?

Because of ClearType I do prefer XP, but W2K is of course much more compact and efficient in terms of memory. Yet with a 60GB hard drive and 768MB RAM, this shouldn't bother you very much.

- any reason to copy hidden partitions, etc. from the drive that comes with the machine

Depends on your personal opinion towards all that pre-boot stuff. Do you think that could be of some help somewhen? Personally, I kept on deleting all that stuff right away, believing that I would never need it, until some weird software once destroyed my Windows XP installation while I was working on the computer out of the house. So I have come to appreciate at least the RapidRestore solution. But, a huge improvement, the new Rescue and Recovery with Rapid Restore doesn't even need a hidden partition of its own.

http://www.pc.ibm.com/us/think/thinkvan ... l?re=pcdtv

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... Q2QAK.html

- does the consensus view favor ntfs over fat32?

Definitely! FAT32 is horrible! Stay away from it if you can!

- I usually break a drive into partitions, but am thinking of one big partition

Just as you like. I've got approximately 8 GB of software and (depending on the machine) 25-60GB of unchanging data (encyclopedias, literature databases etc., needs no regular backups) on my drives. Originally I only had one partition. With IBM's new Rescue and Recovery with Rapid Restore I have all the software on a 10GB partition and the data on a second one which holds the rest of the drive. This allows me to have a very small backup (around 4 GB) which, in case of a destruction of Windows XP, nevertheless lets me restore the system to the original, working state with no hassles in about 20 minutes.

[richarddd]

I'm leaning towards XP, probably just for a change. ClearType seems a good idea.

The rescue and recovery software looks nice, although I rarely install new software (at least, not when I'm away from home) and haven't had a major crash in a long time (which might be a reason to keep w2k).

Can you back up and restore selected directories, or only entire partitions?

thanks

[monty cantsin]

ClearType seems a good idea.

Yes, but whether you'll really appreciate it depends 1. on your personal preferences (do you like razor-sharp, yet jagged edges, or rather smooth lines?) and 2. on how well the TFT panel reacts to this kind of anti-aliasing technology. Just try it out, and don't be too surprised if it may disappoint you. There are people who advocate ClearType wholeheartedly (me included), and then there are also people who fiercely oppose it. Yet, if it doesn't impress you at the first glance, don't give up immediately, just try to fine-tune it a bit first.

http://www.petri.co.il/what's_windows_c ... _fonts.htm

http://www.microsoft.com/typography/cle ... uner/1.htm

http://www.offroadsearch.com/software/cleartweak/

http://2105.dk/temp/cleartype.zip

The rescue and recovery software looks nice, although I rarely install new software (at least, not when I'm away from home)

So do I. The issues I mentioned above came up with some device drivers a virtual CD software integrated into the system. The nasty part of the story is that those hang-ups did not occur right after setting up the software, but much, much later, almost a month. In the meantime everything worked fine. But then, all in a sudden, after a restart the system wouldn't boot up and hang completely with a black screen, without any error messages that could have cleared up the confusion. None of the options you are presented with when pressing F8 on boot-up worked to regain at least minimal access to the system. And as I didn't know what the reason was for all this mess, also the recovery console couldn't help me because I didn't know exactly what to turn off. Over the course of about half a year I had to set up two new Windows XP installations, followed by another two complete crashes, until I finally figured out why all those strange things happened.

With RapidRestore, this system would also have crashed over and over again because it still had the faulty device drivers, but at least I would have been able to restore it to a working state in almost no time when I was on the road.

and haven't had a major crash in a long time (which might be a reason to keep w2k).

Actually there aren't huge differences between W2K (=Windows 5.0) and XP (=Windows 5.1; just type "ver" or "winver" at the command prompt). Exactly the same would have happened with Windows 2000. XP wasn't the culprit here. Rest assured that it is as stable and as fail-safe as W2K.

Can you back up and restore selected directories, or only entire partitions?

Yes, at least with Version 4 that is incorporated into the "Rescue and Recovery with Rapid Restore Version 1" package. You can select the partitions, files and folders you want to back up, and it also allows you to restore single files from the individual backup sets.

But please bear in mind that RR is rather a system recovery solution than a full-fledged professional file-based backup suite. For regular backups of your data files, I would strongly recommend the use of additional software.

[richarddd]

Someone else said the x31 preload is rather lean, that it doesn't come with a lot of bloat, and suggested just cloning the original drive to the new 60gb drive. What do you think?

[monty cantsin]

Someone else said the x31 preload is rather lean, that it doesn't come with a lot of bloat,

Of course that's very subjective. The Windows installation itself is rather lean (in comparison to what is being delivered with other brands), but the pre-desktop area stuff including the hard drive image to recover your operating system to the factory default consumes a considerable (some folks would say: an intolerable) amount of space. But if you don't need the whole space of your hard drive up to the very last GB for your own stuff yet, I see no reason why you shouldn't keep the Hidden Protected Area (HPA) for the beginning. As I said before, I have come to appreciate this stuff, but I had to learn it the hard way.

and suggested just cloning the original drive to the new 60gb drive. What do you think?

Sounds like a good idea to me. Here are some instructions on how to copy the HPA, just in case you'll need them:

http://www-3.ibm.com/pc/support/site.ws ... MIGR-46023

See the appendix, "Creating an image of the hard drive", on p. 9ff. I've never cloned an HPA, so unfortunately I can't assist you any further here, but I see that there are some experienced folks around here who may help you if there occur any problems.

[richarddd]

I ended up installing w2k from original disks. For some reason cloning the drive didn't work. w2k works fine.

fwiw, my vendor sent me a 1.4ghz instead of a 1.3, which is a bit better. Very nice machine in any event

thanks