# Forum Home Renovation Television, Computers & Phones  Dual Booting

## paddyjoy

> I'm getting an error when I try to upload a photo, either from "manage attachments" or the toolbar in the post.  It's quite small and I can't copy and paste it.  Are you aware of any issues?

  I agree with the others about the size, I try to keep mine less than 1mb, usually around 500kb otherwise I will have issues.  

> I know your pain, just got a new Dell laptop on Friday and it has Windows 8.1(yuk) and I can't find a way to boot from the USB to run Linux.

  I had the same issues with my Dell when I got it last year, I can't remember off hand what the fix was but I think it involved changing the boot type in the BIOS, you should be able to find the solution on google, also make sure you are using the latest version of whatever distribution you are using.

----------


## phild01

> I agree with the others about the size, I try to keep mine less than 1mb, usually around 500kb otherwise I will have issues.  
> I had the same issues with my Dell when I got it last year, I can't remember off hand what the fix was but I think it involved changing the boot type in the BIOS, you should be able to find the solution on google, also make sure you are using the latest version of whatever distribution you are using.

  File sizes around 100K is ample for decent quality upload.
As for the Dell,I ended up downloading a BIOS update.  It has the fast boot UEFI thingy that I knew nothing about.  Anyway got it doing a USB boot now but now need to get my head around if Ubuntu can also do the same thing with it as Windows can.  The other issue may be dual booting and if it destroys the Windows install if I remove linux later.

----------


## Uncle Bob

Phil, if you're on Windows 8, there's Hyper-V virtual machine built in so you can run what ever OS inside windows.

----------


## phild01

> Phil, if you're on Windows 8, there's Hyper-V virtual machine built in so you can run what ever OS inside windows.

  Thanks for the heads up...will look into this. 
I do like how quickly Windows starts and long overdue.

----------


## paddyjoy

[QUOTE=phild01;945159The other issue may be dual booting and if it destroys the Windows install if I remove linux later.[/QUOTE] 
Can't comment on this as I deleted the windows partition completely on mine, it shouldn't get destroyed in a dual boot but there is always a risk. I use Ubuntu 100% of the time and use virtualbox to run a windows VM for any windows applications, basically the opposite of what Bob suggested.

----------


## phild01

> Can't comment on this as I deleted the windows partition completely on mine, it shouldn't get destroyed in a dual boot but there is always a risk. I use Ubuntu 100% of the time and use virtualbox to run a windows VM for any windows applications, basically the opposite of what Bob suggested.

  This UEFI thing together with Windows has me worried that Ubuntu may not boot anywhere near as quickly.  For all time I have wanted a computer that just switches on instantly and this Windows is pretty close to the mark.  More research needed.  Unfortunately not everything runs on Linux and Windows has to be there as a fall-back for some apps. From what I have gleaned, there is no need to delete the Windows partition, just shrink it.  What I really want is fast 'switch-on' and 'fast switching' between the OS's.  Ubuntu for  internet security and office apps, and Windows (non-updated) for apps not internet dependent.  But it may be that 8.1 is now a much more secure OS. :Confused:

----------


## paddyjoy

> What I really want is fast 'switch-on' and 'fast switching' between the OS's.

  Best thing for this is to ditch the hard drive that came with the laptop and buy an SSD, they are getting pretty cheap and they make a massive difference, I get a sub 5 second boot with ubuntu on mine. Haven't tested windows however I imagine it would be similar.  SSD - MSY Online

----------


## phild01

> Best thing for this is to ditch the hard drive that came with the laptop and buy an SSD, they are getting pretty cheap and they make a massive difference, I get a sub 5 second boot with ubuntu on mine. Haven't tested windows however I imagine it would be similar.  SSD - MSY Online

  At the moment boot is less than 15 seconds.  Would like an SSD but these will get dirt cheap and much bigger than current offerings, so I must wait.  But looking at that link, they are getting a fair bit cheaper to when I looked about a month ago or so.

----------


## METRIX

> At the moment boot is less than 15 seconds.  Would like an SSD but these will get dirt cheap and much bigger than current offerings, so I must wait.  But looking at that link, they are getting a fair bit cheaper to when I looked about a month ago or so.

  Good quality SSD are worth the money,  
My Laptop PCIe SSD Win7-64 from turn on to ready 13 seconds, WIN 8 Who cares never putting that virus on my laptop. 
Desktop Samsung EVO SSD Win7-64, 11 seconds after post 14 seconds total, Win 8 as above  :Biggrin:

----------


## paddyjoy

> Good quality SSD are worth the money

  Couldn’t agree more, you have to remember it's not just the booting up time but everything you do while using the computer is faster, opening programs, copying/editing images etc...

----------


## METRIX

> Couldn’t agree more, you have to remember it's not just the booting up time but everything you do while using the computer is faster, opening programs, copying/editing images etc...

  Agree, you don't realise how slow even a fast hard drives are until you get one of these, oh and no noise or heat, Now where can I find a 4Tb version for $200 ? :Wink:

----------


## OBBob

Agree they are a great bit of kit.  Our IT guys say they can die very abruptly compared to a normal drive and are much more difficult to recover data from in that event.  Make sure you back up regularly if it's critical stuff.

----------


## paddyjoy

> Agree, you don't realise how slow even a fast hard drives are until you get one of these, oh and no noise or heat, Now where can I find a 4Tb version for $200 ?

   You can find one in 2020 ;-)

----------


## Uncle Bob

Moving threads to here.

----------


## phild01

Never noticed the computer section, this forum has it all :Smilie:

----------


## METRIX

> Agree they are a great bit of kit.  Our IT guys say they can die very abruptly compared to a normal drive and are much more difficult to recover data from in that event.  Make sure you back up regularly if it's critical stuff.

  Here is an interesting article on that subject  Investigation: Is Your SSD More Reliable Than A Hard Drive? - SSD Reliability: Is Your Data Really Safe?

----------


## METRIX

> You can find one in 2020 ;-)

  Posibly closer, a 1Tb Samsung EVO 840 is $460, wont take long for this to become $260, and a 2Tb to be $460

----------


## paddyjoy

> Posibly closer, a 1Tb Samsung EVO 840 is $460, wont take long for this to become $260, and a 2Tb to be $460

  Metrix you are in luck, turns out Sandisk are already making 4TB ssd's   SanDiskâs Optimus MAX SAS SSDs

----------


## phild01

> Metrix you are in luck, turns out Sandisk are already making 4TB ssd's   SanDiskâ€™s Optimus MAX SAS SSDs

  He did mention something about $200!! :Rolleyes:

----------


## justonething

SSD's provide excellent read only access, but they are not meant to be written to continuously and are therefore slow in comparison to 7200 rpm HD. It is therefore suitable to put OS and all executable and other read only files on SSD. But if you run a big database that requires frequent writing of data. Don't put on SSD or you will regret it.

----------

