[ale] If you own (almost) ANY HDD, repartition with 4k boundaries

[Alex Carver]

On 1/6/2013 11:25, Ron Frazier (ALE) wrote:
> These links should help.
>
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936929
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322389#method2
>
> Do some reading to make sure the service pack is all inclusive, otherwise you might have to install sp1 thrn sp2 then sp3.  Backup first.  Massive service packs occasionally crash things.  Also, if you do a full image backup and restore to the same machine, all the patches should be there.  The current xp machine with auto update on should already be at sp3 level.
>
> The xp machine might be able to run 7 if it has 1 gb or more of ram, although I haven't tried it.  7 is lighter than vista.  I'll probably retire my old xp machine next year rather than buy another win 7.
>

384 MB RAM :)  It's an old laptop with XP Home installed.   I have a 
recovery CD for it which would get me to a base install but I want to 
have the patches on hand stored away just in case a backup fails or the 
system needs a full reinstall for any reason.

In case anyone is wondering, the laptop is an old Averatec that doesn't 
seem to play nice with Linux (go figure).  From what I've dug up online 
the hardware is iffy with Linux support.  Maybe one day I'll snag 
another hard drive and try a clean install of Linux on it to see what 
happens.  But as a portable kick-around machine, I've left it with XP 
Home so that at least I get some basic hardware support.  It's one of 
only two machines that I have that use Windows (the other being XP pro). 
  All my other machines (eleven) are either Debian, NetBSD, or Solaris.

My next job is to find a replacement PATA IDE drive and clone a failing 
drive over to it.  I really need to work on a mega storage system.  All 
these backups are taking up lots of space.