From: adam@address.invalid   
      
   TJ wrote:   
   > On 12/16/2012 04:45 PM, Adam wrote:   
      
   [Thinkpad T60 laptop]   
      
   >> I've repartitioned its "60 GB" ~55 GB HD into:   
   [...]   
   >> ~7 GB FAT32 for miscellaneous data   
   >>   
   >> I figured that if I was going to be carrying this around, I'd probably   
   >> have videos, MP3s, and other stuff to kill time on it, which is what the   
   >> FAT32 partition is for.   
   >>   
   > I'm going to assume you considered the file size limitations of FAT32,   
   > and in this application believe them to be unimportant.   
      
   Good point -- yes I did.  I assume you're referring to the FAT32 file   
   size limit of 4 GB.  This laptop will be a secondary (tertiary?) system,   
   so anything that involves manipulating files larger than that would be   
   done on my main system where the whole file could be kept in RAM,   
   instead of requiring swap.  I'm guessing that partition will have mostly   
   video files (AVI, MKV, et al., all well under 2 GB each) and music files   
   -- stuff to watch in bed, while waiting at the doctor's office, between   
   classes, etc.  I'll probably repartition the HD in a year or two anyway,   
   when I know how I'm actually using the laptop.  This is my first laptop   
   ever, so I'm just guessing at how I'll be using it.   
      
   > A thought: If in the future you decide you need the space of the FAT32   
   > partition for other purposes, an inexpensive, easily-pocketed (also   
   > easily misplaced or stolen, so don't put anything important on it) usb   
   > flash memory device can perform that function.   
      
   Good idea!  I already have a few USB flash drives that I use mainly for   
   transferring data between computers.  They're slower than a HD, but fast   
   enough to use for playing a video from.  I haven't lost one yet, but I'm   
   sure I will eventually.  In fact, I prefer the ones that don't have a   
   separate cap because I know I'll eventually misplace that too.   
      
   This seems as good a point as any to mention the epidemic of "fake   
   flash" out there -- flash drives that misleadingly report a capacity of   
   4G or 16G or whatever, but actually contain much less RAM.  Any data   
   written beyond that point is gone for good.  Only buy flash drives of   
   reputable brands from reputable vendors... and even so, run a write/read   
   test to verify the amount of RAM /actually present/.  Someone has   
   written "f3write" and "f3read" for Linux which do the job.  At my last   
   college reunion they gave out flash drives with the college logo and our   
   yearbook as several PDF files.  That all fit on a 2 GB drive... except   
   the drives they used, although they reported 2 GB capacity, actually had   
   less than 1 GB of RAM and therefore had only part of the yearbook.   
      
   > For that matter, the whole outfit is probably much easier to be   
   > misplaced or stolen than you can imagine. If it were me, I'd keep that   
   > in mind if I expected to "carry it around."   
      
   Yeah, that's definitely something to worry about.  Almost every week you   
   hear of someone's laptop with confidential data getting stolen.  There   
   are actually two problems there -- the physical laptop itself, and the   
   data stored on it.  I think the second problem is easier to solve, with   
   encryption, fingerprint readers (I think this laptop includes one), or   
   better yet, not storing any data one wouldn't mind sharing with the   
   world or losing.  Keeping the laptop computer itself from getting   
   misplaced or stolen is going to be a much more difficult task, I think.   
     OTOH the main purpose I bought this (aside from getting a new toy) is   
   to be able to use it away from home.   
      
   In one way I feel like a newbie again -- there are lots of things I   
   ought to know something about that desktop users aren't concerned with.   
      Not just physical and data security, but choosing a case, connecting   
   to public (and friends') Wi-Fi setups, and other things I don't even   
   know about yet.  I'm waiting for "Laptops for Dummies" to arrive via   
   interlibrary loan. :-)   
      
   Adam   
   --   
   Registered Linux User #536473   
      
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