PDA

View Full Version : Need Help With Computer Partitioning, USB Booting, and dual booting


ultama121
August 5th, 2009, 02:13 AM
Ok, here's the situation. I received my tablet pc today from school. When I got home, I booted it up to find that there were very strict limitations put on the computer that pretty much keep you from doing anything besides using a very select few applications. I at first tried to look for work arounds, but I realized that it wasn't going to get me anywhere. Thanks to a suggestion from Kalub, I realized that I could partition the harddrive and install a separate OS (dualboot) that isn't rendered useless from administrative settings. The OS is going to be Vista Home Premium Edition, which I have lying around from before I switched to W7.

Now here's where I need help. Can someone recommend some good bootable partitioning software? It has to be bootable via USB as well because this damn tablet doesn't even have a CD/DVD drive. If you have any guides for installing Vista via USB boot, feel free to toss it this way. All help is appreciated. :)
klange
August 5th, 2009, 02:14 AM
Gparted


Google it, I'm on my ipod :gonk:
ultama121
August 5th, 2009, 02:31 AM
Guides seem to point to the fact that this is primarily a Linux app... do you have any other suggestions? I'd also rather use something less complicated in fear of fucking something up.
klange
August 5th, 2009, 02:37 AM
Guides seem to point to the fact that this is primarily a Linux app... do you have any other suggestions? I'd also rather use something less complicated in fear of fucking something up.

They have a bootable UsB distro that will do your NTFS partitioning. You won't find a better tool. It's a great GUI, much better than most of the shit Windows apps I've seen.
ultama121
August 5th, 2009, 03:06 AM
Hmm... Alright then, I'll give it a try.
StankBacon
August 5th, 2009, 06:33 AM
when you boot the windows install disc it should let you set up partitions and stuff right from there.
klange
August 5th, 2009, 12:12 PM
when you boot the windows install disc it should let you set up partitions and stuff right from there.
They removed that in Vista, to my knowledge. I'm damn well sure it's not in 7.
Cortexian
August 5th, 2009, 01:58 PM
If you use Gparted you'll corrupt your original school-installed Windows installation. The only way to get it back will be to use the recovery tool on the Windows installation disk... Since you don't have an optical drive I suggest you just grab a USB optical drive or something.
klange
August 5th, 2009, 02:02 PM
If you use Gparted you'll corrupt your original school-installed Windows installation. The only way to get it back will be to use the recovery tool on the Windows installation disk... Since you don't have an optical drive I suggest you just grab a USB optical drive or something.
heh

Stop spreading FUD. Gparted's NTFS tools do no such thing.
Cortexian
August 5th, 2009, 02:40 PM
heh

Stop spreading FUD. Gparted's NTFS tools do no such thing.
Really? They break every Windows partition that I take a chunk out of miester. I've used Gparted on 5 or 6 partitions now, all required Windows installation disk recovery.

Either way, better to be on the safe side and have it ready with an optical drive.
klange
August 5th, 2009, 03:51 PM
Really? They break every Windows partition that I take a chunk out of miester. I've used Gparted on 5 or 6 partitions now, all required Windows installation disk recovery.
I've resized and moved dozens of Windows NTFS partitions and never broke any of them.

Either way, better to be on the safe side and have it ready with an optical drive.He should. They're well worth the money and will make installing Windows at all easier.
ultama121
August 5th, 2009, 04:59 PM
Argh, this whole time I was under the impression that these were the student's laptops... buuuuuuuuuuuuuuut they're apparently property of the school. But at the same time, they claim them to belong to the students and make them pay $700 a year to "rent" them. Assuming the cost doesn't change, that will eventually equal more than the actual value of the tablets themselves. At the end of Senior year they're going to offer a buyout for the tablets.

So in the end, my parents are renting an $1800 brick (property of the school) that can only do the select few things the administrator has allowed.

Knowing this, proceeding to edit the harddrive and such wouldn't be a good idea. The only way around this that I can see is if my parents are able to purchase this tablet from the school... which won't be anytime soon in the current money situation. Damn.