How to Eliminate Compression on a Hard Drive?

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A few years ago I was running out of hard disk space on my laptop so I compressed most of the folders on the drive. I thought I had compressed the entire hard drive but when I look at the drives property’s it does not indicate it is compressed. That older laptop is running Windows Vista Home Premium. I have a new computer and want to install Linux Mint Cinnamon on the older laptop. Will formatting that hard drive remove all Compression that is currently in place? In fact, I’m not certain how to install the new Linux operating system. Maybe someone can provide an outline of the steps I should take to make this OS change.

Thanks,
Bill

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That older laptop is running Windows Vista Home Premium. I have a new computer and want to install Linux Mint Cinnamon on the older laptop. Will formatting that hard drive remove all Compression that is currently in place? In fact, I’m not certain how to install the new Linux operating system. Maybe someone can provide an outline of the steps I should take to make this OS change.

A laptop of Vista-age may not be able to boot from a USB stick so it’s probably easiest to just download the Linux Mint Cinnamon 18.1 ISO (which is 1.6GB) and burn it to a DVD. When you boot from it, the DVD will run Linux Mint in ‘live’ mode, i.e. ‘from’ the DVD itself. When the desktop appears you’ll see an Install Linux Mint icon. Double-clicking on this icon will install Linux Mint to your hard disk. Leave the installation at the defaults and it will format the laptop’s hard disk and use an ext4 filesystem by default, wiping out whatever compression was used for the Windows filesystem.

Note that you may need to enter the laptop’s BIOS to change its boot order to the optical drive if there’s no boot menu option shown on the laptop’s boot screen. For example, for a Vista-era Acer Aspire laptop the boot menu is invoked by tapping the F12 key as the laptop boots up (and this model can boot from USB).

(If you let us know the make/model of laptop then we can probably help check how to change the boot order or enter the BIOS.)

It’s not a complex operation but have a look at this Linux Mint 17 Cinnamon Installation Guide with Screenshots article for a more detailed guide. The process is exactly the same for the latest Linux Mint 18.1.

Probably the best tip is that, on the second installation screen, make sure the ‘Install third-party software…’ option is checked. This will save you having to muck about with manually installing drivers for wifi/graphics and adding multimedia support afterwards.

Note that the Linux Mint website isn’t working at the moment, possibly due to the Amazon AWS S3 problems right this moment (which Amazon hope to have corrected by tomorrow).

Hope this helps… let us know if you have any more questions.

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Thanks Rick, that was very helpful. I have changed the boot order on my newer computer and I may have done it on the older one. I’ll give that a try tomorrow and see how it goes. I believe this old Toshiba Satellite P206-S6267 does have a boot menu when you click the correct function key near the beginning of a boot-up.

Thanks for a very useful and thorough response.
Bill

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I believe this old Toshiba Satellite P206-S6267 does have a boot menu when you click the correct function key near the beginning of a boot-up.

Glad to help. On that model I believe it’s F2 for BIOS and F12 for boot menu (‘cos I think it’s the same Phoenix BIOS as Acer Aspire of that age).

Hope this helps…

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I agree with Rick and installing Linux Mint, have 18 on a Notebook and 17.3 on a Desktop. I also have Linux Mint 13 on a Dell Inspiron 600m Notebook but it has a problem with newer versions and PAE/Physical Addressing Extension [something about Intel’s Centrino] but I keep it because it has a ‘quick-change’ feature for CD and Floppy drives. If yours turns out to be too old for 17 be sure to get Linux Mint 13 as LTS/Long Term Support for it is said to be expiring sometime soon.

Before you wonder "Am I doing things right," ask "Am I doing the right things?"

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Not sure that one key question you had was answered directly.

Will formatting that hard drive remove all Compression that is currently in place?

Yes. No compression system can survive a hard drive format unless it is a hardware-based compression system. And you don’t see hardware compression systems in consumer-grade PCs.

More than that though. Compression systems are native to the volume formats hosting them. When you switch volume formats, you also switch to different compression systems and options. Your Vista installation will use NTFS, while Linux will use one of the Linux volume formats (ext3, btrfs, ReiserFS, zfs, etc.).

Therefore if reformatting didn’t remove compression, the switch to a different operating system would have.

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Not sure that one key question you had was answered directly.

Will formatting that hard drive remove all Compression that is currently in place?

[/QUOTE]

From post #2:

Leave the installation at the defaults and it will format the laptop’s hard disk and use an ext4 filesystem by default, wiping out whatever compression was used for the Windows filesystem.

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OK, the installation of the new operating system seems to have gone very well until it got to the point that asked if I wanted it to restart. I figured that must be the point where I should remove the installation DVD from the optical drive so I removed it and then clicked on restart now. It hasn’t restarted and hasn’t done anything except change the appearance of the screen! Did I remove the DVD too soon? If so, will it state that clearly and wait until I do before going on?

Thanks,
Bill

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OK, the installation of the new operating system seems to have gone very well until it got to the point that asked if I wanted it to restart. I figured that must be the point where I should remove the installation DVD from the optical drive so I removed it and then clicked on restart now. It hasn’t restarted and hasn’t done anything except change the appearance of the screen! Did I remove the DVD too soon? If so, will it state that clearly and wait until I do before going on?

Hi Bill, unfortunately the installation had to run a (fairly lengthy) shutdown script from the DVD… which was no longer available. Not to worry… install Linux Mint again and, when it asks whether you want to restart, just click on the ‘Restart Now’ button. The Linux Mint GUI will disappear and you’ll see in a terminal the results of the shutdown script as services are stopped gracefully. You’ll be prompted clearly on-screen when to remove the DVD and press a key to continue the restart.

Hope this helps…

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Success! I got Linux Mint installed correctly last night but didn’t have time to come back here to report. I think it is running correctly but I wasn’t able to shut it down! This morning I have done some google searches and found the answer for shutdown. I have a LOT to learn now! Do you have any suggestions on where to start?

Thanks for all the help in getting me started her.
Bill

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Success! I got Linux Mint installed correctly last night but didn’t have time to come back here to report. I think it is running correctly but I wasn’t able to shut it down! This morning I have done some google searches and found the answer for shutdown. I have a LOT to learn now! Do you have any suggestions on where to start?

Thanks for all the help in getting me started her.
Bill

1. Install Opera as your browser. You probably already have Firefox on the computer (likely came with Mint), so use that to go to http://www.opera.com. Opera is fast and secure, and that’s why I recommend it.

2. Install Libre Office, so that you can do any typing and spread sheeting that you need to do.

3. Enjoy! I believe you’ll find that Linux provides a restful experience; you don’t have to constantly wonder what new update Microsoft is going to send your way.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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Until you dismiss it, Linux Mint Cinnamon (LMC) will display a Welcome Screen when it starts. My suggestions are:

1. Have a look at New features (by clicking on the icon once). Some of the info won’t mean anything at this stage but it will give you an idea what LMC can do. It will also give you experience with the default browser, Firefox.

2. Have a look at Documentation. This will give you experience of opening a PDF file within Firefox.

3. Have a look at Apps. This will take you directly to the Software Manager and give you experience of having to enter your user password, much like Windows’ UAC prompt. Have a click round the different categories, particularly Featured, to see what’s available.

4. Have a look at Forums, particularly Newbie Questions, and get used to the forum style. IMO the LM support forums are the place to go for definitive answers from people using LM on a daily basis.

5. Have a quick look at Drivers. This will take you directly to the Driver Manager and will automatically update the cache of available drivers from online, run a hardware check and alert you to any devices that haven’t been identified, much like Device Manager in Windows.

That’s about it for the Welcome Screen, IMO. When you’re comfortable, remove the cross from the Show this dialogue at startup checkbox. (You can always get back to it using Menu > All Applications > Welcome Screen.)

6. Double-click on the Home icon on the (primary) desktop. This will show you to the LMC equivalent of My Documents. You can also get there by clicking on the Files icon (which looks like a folder) in the Panel (the LMC equivalent of Taskbar). Navigate around and get used to the LMC equivalent of a Windows Explorer window.

7. Check out the icons on the far right of the Panel, the LMC equivalent of Windows’ Notification Area.

8. Get used to the Menu and its similarities to Windows’ Start menu, especially the buttons to Quit (i.e. Shut Down), Logout and Lock Screen. Check out each category and see what’s available in the stock version of LMC. At this stage I suggest you just explore the default software and see whether LMC already includes equivalents of what you use a Windows device for, then play around with them to see whether they meet your needs.

9. In particular, have a look at the Accessories category so you become familiar with the sorts of utilities you’re likely to need sooner than later, e.g. Archive Manager (for compressed files) and perhaps Screenshot (for when you want to ask a question and the best way is to show what you’re asking about).

As you do this, you’ll soon become familiar with some minor differences between LMC and Windows, e.g. Windows uses ticks/check marks while LMC uses crosses. (This threw me in the beginning because I’ve been conditioned to see a tick as ‘Yes’ and a cross as ‘No’.)

Hope this helps…

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From post #2:

Oops! Right you are, I missed that!

:p

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Thanks Rick and Mr Jim for your suggestions on how to get started learning Linux. I’mm off and running!

Bill

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