Whoaa, it seems you are right, Henry, according to the specs<http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en&tmp_geoLoc=true&docname=c03769023#N1192>on HP site this case really DOES have only one bay. It seems the technician was lying :(. Is there any chance of returning the PC for full refund as it wasn't delivered per requested specs? As for the Grub prublem, I thing you will not need any MBR boot loader. As the computer is preinstalled with Windows 8, my bets are on UEFI firmware in your motherboard which means your HDD should be in GPT format (no old-fashioned MBR with all the gotchas). Booting UEFI might seem more laborous for a novice, but if you read a few articles you will find it to be way more reliable boot method than MBR/Grub. In fact, the only thing you need to do is to build your gentoo kernel with EFI_STUB and few other options, put your kernel bzImage on some fat32 partition and add a boot entry into your UEFI(=bios). Most UEFIs are capable to work as boot managers and boot loaders and they will do the Grub's work. http://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/UEFI_Gentoo_Quick_Install_Guide Regards, Peter
2013/8/28 Mark Knecht <[email protected]> > On Wed, Aug 28, 2013 at 1:39 PM, Henry W. Peters <[email protected]> > wrote: > > On 8/28/2013 3:46 PM, czernitko wrote: > >> > >> Hi, it seems improbable that your desktop PC would have only one HDD > slot. > >> Could you post your exact model number please? :) > >> To give you some hope, I have had Linux installed on external hdd for > >> daily use for about two years. It is at least five years back, it was > over > >> USB 2.0 and worked quite well. I did some photo editing and retouching > and > >> it was ok. > >> How big is your internal drive anyway? Isn't it possible to use around > >> 30GB for Gentoo system partition? Or do you just want to keep original > hdd > >> intact? > >> Regards, > >> Peter > >> > >> Hi, > >> If you really need a new drive (i.e. - the one that came with your > >> machine is just too small, etc.) then I'd look at imaging the drive > >> that's currently installed, putting in a larger drive, partitioning > >> this larger drive to hold both Gentoo and what ever M$ OS you might be > >> using, and then just work to get both OS's working but keep the > >> current drive on the shelf as a backup. This way you could always go > >> back to what you have. > >> > >> Just an idea. > >> > >> Good luck, > >> Mark > >> To the point of the original poster: I currently use a Lenovo W520 > laptop. > >> I have a USB3 external hard drive that I mostly use for backup, but I > have > >> occasionally edited some audio (small audio files using Audacity) > directly > >> on the external drive. Again, it's not the OS drive, so temp files and > >> such > >> are most likely stored on the internal drive, but I know that Audacity > >> operates in the directory in which the project is located, so it's still > >> doing a fair bit of I/O to that external drive. > >> > >> Hope this helps! > >> > >> ~David > > > > > > Thanks all for helpful suggestions! > > > > First off, capacity of current internal drive is not really an issue with > > me... it is 2 TB... I tried installing Gentoo on another (very much older > > computer) a while ago & had problems installing Grub, with Gentoo, as I > was > > dual booting with windows (not to mention conflicts with xstart & my old > > integrated SIS graphics card)... so my thinking is to install Gentoo on a > > whole other HD... which seemed to work out on my old computer (or > perhaps it > > was simpler to do for a Gentoo novice, like myself). > > > > & Peter, I'm with you... I have not seen a desktop computer that didn't > have > > at least one expansion bay (not that I've seen that many)... but > apparently > > this HP Pavillion 500-046 does not. & I really had to dig to find out > (the > > hard way). > > > > Good to hear that some have had some measure of success with external > drives > > & Gentoo, rather sounds like I'll just have to try it... > > > > I have done a little more research since my earlier post, & I see that > LaCie > > (& possibly others) make/sell an external drive that has usb 2 & > 3/firewire > > 400 & 800/eSata (& there are, it seems, some extra Sata slots on the > mother > > board of this HP computer). > > > > My plan, in fact, after a installation of Gentoo... would be to shrink > the 2 > > TB partition that is currently formatted in NTS... (Windows 8), use the > > other partition formatted in ext 4 (i.e., Linux) data storage. > > > > Henry > > (who's trying hard to get away from windows, again (been using various > > flavors of Linux for about five years) > > > > > > Henry, > A couple of points: > > 1) Not all computers will boot from an external USB drive. If you have > one around you can maybe do some experiments before you invest a lot > of time and find yourself stymied. > > 2) grub is not a requirement to boot Gentoo. There are links out there > demonstrating how to modify the Windows boot config files to allow you > to boot other OS's. I don't do it myself so I don't know what the > state of the Win 8 boot loader is in that respect, but there were ways > to do this with Win NT. If it's of interest then check it out. > > Good luck, > Mark > >
