Mint 18.3 Cinnamon Dual Boot Issues with Win7

[wizardfromoz]

Love it, Dick, but do be aware that the SSD may not speed up internet transactions eg banking - these are in part dictated by the internet connection you are using and its speed, and concepts called latency and bottlenecking, and of course, the software used by the bank itself.

But certainly, back Stateside, with a reliable connection from a reliable ISP (Internet Service Provider) - I don't see the SSD as being a bad investment. This Dell laptop is the first SSD I have encountered, and the speed of the system itself I find really gratifying.

I've completed the video, I will post it in General Linux so that all may benefit, I'll come back with a link here.

Avagudweegend

Chris

 

[wizardfromoz]

Dick, Hi, the video guide is here

https://www.linux.org/threads/gparted-partitioning-for-linux-read-this-if-you-need-help.22028/

See how you go, when you are fresh.

Wiz

 

[whazzupdoc]

Fresh is the right word Wiz. My comment about the SSD and its' speed was way off what I meant. We pay for add'l ban width here and it doesn't seem to be a problem using the same isp on our desktops. It's just when she goes to use the old Toshiba that she has online problems. So my guess is the old tired HDD. And by the way, can that HDD be used in an external fashion as another backup drive?

Thanks very much for the gparted link. I'll get into it after some breakfast.
Doc

 

[whazzupdoc]

Hi Chris. I'm trying to do it and have 2 pending deletions as you can see in the lower left of the shot I've taken. But I can't get an active resize afterwards. Everything is grayed out. What's wrong?
Doc

 

[wizardfromoz]

Dick, go to the top right corner of your window where the X is to close and click it. You will get a message saying 2 operations pending and do you want to close anyway. Close anyway.

That will cancel the 2 ops, leave it 30 seconds to a minute and go back in and things should be as they were, if not it is not the end of the world.

You don't want to delete /dev/sdc1 - that is where your Timeshift snapshots are.

You want to delete /dev/sdc3 first, from the top, and then /dev/sdc2, near the bottom.

Then follow the resizing instructions.

Cheers

Chris

 

[whazzupdoc]

Chris, I got shut down and the shutdown performed the task for me...all is restored. I'm re-reading this post and think you mean "don't delete /dev/sda1"...not sdc1??? I'll wait your response before I go off half-cocked again.
Doc

 

[wizardfromoz]

Yer right but yer wrong

How's that for a conundrum.

Take a look at your Post #100, page 5, or the direct link is here

https://www.linux.org/threads/mint-18-3-cinnamon-dual-boot-issues-with-win7.18281/page-5#post-64595

The Samsung T5 there was assigned the ID of /dev/sdc. It is on that basis that I responded with (then) correct information.

Above, you have it as /dev/sda

This likely means you have unplugged something at one stage, or plugged something else in from a USB drive to a hard drive, and GParted has reassigned the "addresses".

This is where we have to be careful with GParted, it is a powerful tool, not to be feared, but to be respected, and so we need to be sure we are executing an operation on the RIGHT partition, so your question is fair.

So yeah, don't delete /dev/sda1, but both /dev/sda1 and /dev/sda3 will still need unmounting, so follow the vid with that in mind.

Cheers

Chris

 

[whazzupdoc]

Job appears to have completed...3 1/2 hrs to shrink the sda1 partition to 77.77GiB??? I didn't consciously give that space value. Since I don't have a reference as to how much space is needed, again I'm at a loss.

Also, how do I remount the unallocated partition

SCREENSHOT 1

SCREENSHOT 2

SCREENSHOT 3


I'm not comfortable with what I've done, Chris.

I can see I stuttered and uploaded multiple shots...couldn't see afterwards how to edit/delete the extras.

MODERATOR'S NOTE - fixed up, Dick, this looks clearer and is sufficient?

 

[whazzupdoc]

Something else...I see your unallocated partition is 1/2 again larger than mine (853.75 GiB)... just got that nagging feeling like I did something wrong, Chris.
Doc

 

[wizardfromoz]

just got that nagging feeling like I did something wrong, Chris

(Wizard in his best Yogi Bear voice) "You made a booboo, Boo-Boo" .. but nothing that is not easily fixed

Good thing about Linux is that there are more problems fixable than are not fixable.

I see your unallocated partition is 1/2 again larger than mine (853.75 GiB)

Good spot, I noticed that myself after. But no problem for you. Mine is a 2 TB drive I was working on, not 1 TB.

Do one thing first

Go into Timeshift - Settings - Schedule, turn off Daily (uncheck) for now.

Timeshift will be trying to take a screenshot with insufficient space.

I will fix up your Post above to make it more easily viewable, and be back with the cause and the solution.

Cheers

Wiz

 

[whazzupdoc]

Chris, can't I resize the partition from gparted? I saw the option when I deleted the ntfs earlier.
Doc

 

[wizardfromoz]

You may be catching zzz's by now, if not, do the following when you are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed

can't I resize the partition from gparted?

Yes, you can, we will cover that in "Remedy" below. Let's first look at what went pear-shaped.

When you get a chance, take a look at the video again. Make it fullscreen, this is done by going to the bottom right-hand corner (doesn't matter that the video is running), where it says YouTube, there is an icon shaped like a 4-way intersection. Click it and it will go fullscreen. When you are finished with the vid, click the 4-way again and it will resume the size.

At around the 8:55 mark, 8 minutes 55 secs, we have achieved the following:

• unmounted /dev/sda3 and /dev/sda2
• deleted /dev/sda3 and /dev/sda2, and
• are about to move the remaining /dev/sda1, our Timeshift partition, up to the "top" of the drive /dev/sda

REMEMBER that the video refers to /dev/sdc, because that is what it was when I compiled the video, now that is /dev/sda

I don't say anything in the video about us/you actually shrinking the partition itself, containing Timeshift, we were always going to leave that as it was/is/will be again, at about 292 GiB.

I didn't consciously give that space value.

Doesn't matter, history, spilt milk, water under the bridge. What likely occurred (as you watch the video) - is that ... there are 3 fields with figures in there. We want 0 (zero) at the top, ultimately 1 (MB), we want all unallocated space on the drive at the bottom, and in the middle we want our partition for Timeshift with about 70 - 80 GB used of about 292 GiB/GB allocated/size.

With the 2nd field and the 3rd field, we had the 2nd field highlighted in green while I was talking about it. I then clicked at the end of the number (300002) and the highlight disappears, I am saying "So that's all good" and then press the button to execute.

Your mistake is likely here. You may have pressed Tab again to go to the next field, or a number of other possibilities. Again, doesn't matter, now, but what it did was to change that middle figure from 300002 to approximately 79636, which is 77.77 GiB, the space currently consumed by your Timeshift snapshots. Then, pressed resize/move

From that point on, GParted was committed to trying to reduce your Timeshift snapshots' partition to just the size of the space taken up by them, with no extra space left.

It had heartburn, and took 3.5 hours to do it.

Should have taken maybe 15 - 30 minutes.

For the last time - does not matter, no catastrophe (in Australia, we say "No dramas Mate" or "No worries, Mate"), just so you know what went wrong, because that can be as important as what we hope will go right

I just have to nick over to my Linux Mint 18.3 Cinnamon to check the following instructions, will start "Remedy" next Post.


Wiz

 

[wizardfromoz]

REMEDY

OK, so we want to (sort of) pick up from where we were, with having all unnecessary Partitions deleted, unallocated space is amalgamated or married, and we have just our Timeshift partition on the T5 to resize. Resize only, we are not moving it, it is already at the top.

And put the workhorse that is Timeshift, back to work.

STEPS

1. Open GParted and navigate to the drive and partition (T5) that houses your Timeshift snaps. There should be just one partition on it, about 77.77 GiB, and lots of unallocated space.
2. See if there is an icon for it being locked/mounted (a padlock). If so, click the line so it is highlighted, right-click and Unmount. If not, all well and good.
3. Click the lone again. Then right-click and choose Resize/Move
4. You will have your 3 fields again available featuring numerals. The 1st field should show as 1, the 3rd as some figure for unallocated space. Leave them alone.
5. The 2nd or middle field will show as something like 79636, which is 77.77 GiB (near enough is good enough!)
6. Click at the end of that figure so you see an insertion point (capital I-bar, I for India)
7. Backpspace to the beginning of the line and type in 300000 - 300 thousand, that's close enough.
8. Then, and only then, with Field 1 at 1, and Field 2 at 300,000 (no comma), press Tab and watch the change
   
9. The 3rd field of unallocated space will change. Then, and only then,
10. Click Resize/Move. The ending operation will appear at the bottom of your window, and describes what is about to happen.
11. Then, and only then, go to near the top where the right hand arrow shows as Apply All operations, and click.

Watch the fun, or go for Smoko (cigarette, coffee break).

If you are interested, not the time you pressed the last button, and tell us how long it takes.

If all is in order, on completion, you should have a 280 - 300 GB partition resulting, with 75 - 80 GB used and over 200 GB left in that partition.

If that is so, enter Timeshift - Settings - Schedule and once again check Daily.

Report back.

Cheers

Chris

 

[whazzupdoc]

Chris...in following your steps, your #5 gives me 796365 or 77.77 GiB. Mine shows in MiB and can't see how to convert to GiB. Your step #6 says to click at the end of that number...mine shows a scroll (up/down) and I don't know what you mean by seeing an insertion point (Cap 'I'). Backspace to the beginning of the line??? and type in 300000.

I'm on hold here my Friend cause I don't know what I'm doing and don't want to continue to assume I understand. Sorry!
Doc

 

[wizardfromoz]

Haha, now you've got me making Booboos

"796365" in both #133 Post and #132 Post should be 1/10 that - 79635 - I have edited both and put in bold - 79635

Regrets on your wait, with these accursed timezone differences it makes it hard on you.

So for Steps 6. and 7. above, read as something like

By one means or another (deleting, backspacing, highlighting and overstriking), change that figure of about 79635 to say 300000 (ie 300,000)

Then press Resive/Move and follow through Steps 10 and 11


OK?

No, GParted works in MiB so figures are different by a factor of 1,024 (approximately 1,000 fold), and no recognition of decimal points.

So putting in 300000 will give you a figure of about 292 and a bit GiB which is what it was originally.

Keep us posted.

Wiz

 

[whazzupdoc]

You're a good man, Chris. I think we did it for re-doing the partition. Now I'll go back to TimeShift and setup the Daily backups again. But I need to lock the partition again. Sorry...other than shutting down, how do I do that?
Doc

 

[wizardfromoz]

Good timing, Dick, I was just passing through after lunch.

"Doc, the prognosis looks good!"

Excellent outcome.

1. Fire up GParted again.
2. If /dev/sda1 is still unmounted, we'll go from there. If mounted (little icon), unmount.
3. With /dev/sda1 unmounted, right-click its name entry and choose Label File System (not Name Partition)
4. Type in just the word
Timeshift or MyTimeshift (your choice)
5. Enter, you will see the name appear.
6. Up to top check mark and Apply Operations/Changes, click
7. Your Timeshift partition is now named Timeshift
8. Exit Timeshift

(Just a note here, there is a very small chance of a failure to do this properly, if so, I will know its workaround)

Next step is to

9. Open your File Manager (Nemo)
10. In The left-hand pane, where previously you had a long path/number showing for your /dev/sda1, you should have, now

Timeshift

11. Click on that, and a small icon, perhaps like an elevator button, will appear. Timeshift partition /dev/sda1 is now Mounted.
12. Close your File Manager
13. Launch Timeshift if you wish, you are now in business.

Let us know any probs?

Chris

 

[whazzupdoc]

Name change went well but when I open Nemo the new name isn't showing. I reemember how it used to show but it's not there now.
Doc

 

[wizardfromoz]

You still have GParted open, from the looks of the bottom of your desktop, Dick.

Close it first.

Wiz

 

[whazzupdoc]

Opened disks and found /media/root/MyTimeShift so it's not where it should be?...but buried.
Doc