# fdisk -l /dev/sda Disk /dev/sda: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders, total 488397168 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 2048 41945087 20971520 27 Unknown /dev/sda2 * 41945088 42149887 102400 7 HPFS/NTFS /dev/sda3 42149888 126035967 41943040 7 HPFS/NTFS /dev/sda4 126035968 488392703 181178368 7 HPFS/NTFS # df --si Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on /dev/sda1 22G 15G 7.1G 68% /tmp/sda1 /dev/sda2 105M 26M 80M 25% /tmp/sda2 /dev/sda3 43G 17G 27G 39% /tmp/sda3 /dev/sda4 186G 96M 186G 1% /tmp/sda4 # ls -l /tmp/sda1 drwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 0 Jul 28 2009 EFI drwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 0 Aug 15 2010 Restore drwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 0 Aug 14 2010 System Volume Information drwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 8192 Aug 3 2010 SystemSoftware drwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 8192 Aug 3 2010 WinClon -rwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 0 Apr 24 2007 WinClon.WCL drwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 0 Jul 28 2009 boot -rwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 383562 Jul 13 2009 bootmgr -rwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 481680 Jul 13 2009 imagex.exe -rwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 4292936480 Aug 3 2010 init.w01 -rwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 1835910353 Aug 3 2010 init.w02 -rwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 4292991703 Aug 3 2010 init.wcl -rwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 25 Aug 3 2010 init.woo drwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 0 Sep 21 2009 sources # ls -l /tmp/sda2 drwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 4096 Aug 3 2010 BOOT drwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 0 Aug 2 2010 System Volume Information -rwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 383562 Jul 14 2009 bootmgr # ls -l /tmp/sda3 drwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 0 Aug 14 2010 $Recycle.Bin lrwxrwxrwx. 2 root root 60 Jul 14 2009 Documents and Settings -> /tmp/sda3/Users drwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 0 Aug 14 2010 Intel drwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 0 Jul 14 2009 PerfLogs drwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 8192 Aug 14 2010 Program Files drwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 4096 Aug 14 2010 ProgramData -rwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 2047 Aug 14 2010 RHDSetup.log drwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 16384 Aug 1 2010 System Volume Information drwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 4096 Jul 14 2009 Users drwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 16384 Dec 3 09:20 Windows -rwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 24 Jun 10 2009 autoexec.bat -rwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 10 Jun 10 2009 config.sys -rwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 1062518784 Dec 3 09:19 hiberfil.sys -rwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 1073741824 Dec 3 09:19 pagefile.sys -rwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 159 Aug 1 2010 setup.log # ls -l /tmp/sda4 drwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 0 Aug 14 2010 $RECYCLE.BIN drwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 0 Aug 14 2010 System Volume Information2011-08-15. The same model of netbook bought on this date had the following variation; a slightly larger sda3 and correspondingly smaller sda4:
# fdisk -l /dev/sda Disk /dev/sda: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders, total 488397168 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 2048 41945087 20971520 27 Hidden NTFS WinRE /dev/sda2 * 41945088 42149887 102400 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT /dev/sda3 42149888 147007487 52428800 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT /dev/sda4 147007488 488392703 170692608 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT # df --si Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/sda1 22G 17G 4.9G 78% /tmp/sda1 /dev/sda2 105M 26M 80M 25% /tmp/sda2 /dev/sda3 54G 20G 35G 37% /tmp/sda3 /dev/sda4 175G 96M 175G 1% /tmp/sda4
# fdisk -l /dev/sda Disk /dev/sda: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders, total 488397168 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 2048 41945087 20971520 27 Unknown /dev/sda2 * 41945088 42149887 102400 7 HPFS/NTFS /dev/sda3 42149888 128133119 42991616 7 HPFS/NTFS /dev/sda4 128133120 488394751 180130816 f W95 Ext'd (LBA) /dev/sda5 128135168 488394751 180129792 7 HPFS/NTFS
20110815: for this netbook Easy Partition Manager has done a similar job, including changing the C: drive from exactly 50 GiB to exactly 51 GiB, when I asked for 50 GiB !
Disk /dev/sda: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders, total 488397168 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 2048 41945087 20971520 27 Hidden NTFS WinRE /dev/sda2 * 41945088 42149887 102400 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT /dev/sda3 42149888 149104639 53477376 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT /dev/sda4 149104640 488394751 169645056 f W95 Ext'd (LBA) /dev/sda5 149106688 488394751 169644032 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFATIn order to add Linux, I subsequently deleted sda5 and added various partitions including a smaller D: drive (80GB), and further partitions to support Linux (see later).
Booting and using F4 takes you into a Windows 7 system which has 3 initial choices: Restore ("Restores the computer when a problem occurs with the computer. You can restore Windows files, user data, or the entire drive C:."), Backup ("Backs up the entire drive C: or the necessary computer data"), and System Software ("This function enables reinstalling or backing up the device drivers and Samsung applications necessary for the system operation").
Restore (when clicked) gives you the choices Basic Restore ("Quickly restores only the major Windows files ...."), Complete Restore ("Restores the entire drive C: to the initial status or backup status of the computer. The data on drive C: will be deleted."), and Data Restore ("Restores backed up files and folders").
For the test I chose Complete Restore. This said that I had a particular backup date, description "Initial Computer Status", source "HDD", and Expected Required time 19:58 (presumably minutes and seconds). Clicking on Advanced, it clearly observed that the disk had been repartitioned as above, it then gave me a choice of adjusting the size of the drives C: and D:, suggesting 41GB and 171 GB respectively, adjustable, but there was no ability (apparently) to retain the existing partitioning.
At this stage I chickened-out: I wasn't going to destroy some hours work installing Linux. So I switched off using the netbook power slider (as Ctl-Alt-Del didn't work; I found out later I could have closed the window using the X button), and then rebooted.
However, I found that already, without the courtesy of a "are you sure?" prompt, the Samsung recovery procedure had already replaced my GRUB boot in the MBR. But it hadn't affected the partition table, which is also in the first sector. I rebooted into my Linux installation CD and got a shell prompt using Ctl-Alt-F2. To restore my GRUB boot: as I had used the Linux install option to put the GRUB boot record in the partition (sda9), I just had to repeat what I did manually in the shell prompt at the end of the install: use dd to copy back the GRUB boot from /dev/sda9 to /dev/sda using count=1 bs=440. Otherwise I would have had to invoke grub itself to do the job.
I then thought that maybe I had been asking too much of the Samsung Recovery Solution: perhaps I should have asked it to save my current state with my current partitions first, before I later asked it to restore the C: drive, so that it knew that I wanted to keep all that extra partitioning. But when I went back in using F4 and asked to Backup the C: drive and chose to do a Complete Backup of the C: drive, the software said that "There is no drive that can be used for a backup. Please connect an external storage device with sufficient free space and then try again", which was not what I wanted to see. Maybe I needed to delete the existing backup first to make room, but there was no option to do that. And yet again, even though I had not even entered the Restore section of the tool, it had replaced my GRUB boot yet again!
I was concerned that if the netbook was loaned to someone who tried to use the F4 option, I might lose my entire setup. Ideally, one should be able to disable the F4 recovery, or at least the display of the F4 recovery option, in the BIOS. Anyway, I changed the partition type of sda1 from 27 to 17. (I also later tried partition type 83, and this worked same as 17). When the boot F4 option was subsequently used, after several minutes of "Please wait...", it finally said "windows cannot find x:\winclon\manager1.exe", and rebooted when OK was clicked. Although untidy, hopefully this means that F4 recover won't work unless I want it to (by changing the partition type back to 27). Doing things this way at least means that the recovery partition still exists should I decide to return it to factory condition for any reason.
My conclusion is that if the user has done their own partitioning, the F4 Samsung Recovery Solution is no use and in fact can be actually harmful. But there may be circumventions I haven't thought of.
After removing those applications and adding some very small ones like Putty, the C drive utilisation was 18 GiB (with 33 GiB free). After removing Office 2010 Starter and installing the full product with SP1, and done a full MS Update, C drive util was 19 GiB.
For example, I had "The publisher could not be verified. Are you sure you want to run this software?" for one particular logon-time application. Although there was a tick box for "Always ask before opening this file", unticking it for me had no effect. I fixed this problem as follows: find the executable, right-click to get Properties, untick the Read-only box (this prompts for admin permission), click Unblock (actually I believe this is not needed), say OK, logoff, logon, observe that the prompt pops again, untick the "Always ask ..." box and click OK. Then (optionally) find the executable again and make it Read-only again. After that, the prompt should not appear for subsequent logons.
I also had pop-ups for "Do you want to allow the following program to make changes to this computer", for program SUPBackGround.exe, published by Samsung, and for BatteryLifeExtender.exe, unknown publisher (in Program Files\Samsung). In a later netbook, I also had EasySpeedUpManager.exe. These pulsing icons in the task bar can be a bit annoying ....
In the case of the BatteryLifeExtender, this is an application that appears just to communicate with the BIOS, setting the BIOS / Advanced / Battery Life Cycle Extension to enabled or disabled, so that the battery can be charged to 80% or 100% of its full capacity, with the lower figure better for getting more years of useful service from the battery. Unless you are in the habit of changing your mind about what setting you want within a session, this program seems to be something you do not need to run continuously: you can run it when you need to change the setting, or you can change this battery setting in the BIOS / Advanced dialogue.
It turns out that these tasks are scheduled by MS Task Scheduler, triggered by logon of any user, even users who do not have administrator privilege. Start the task scheduler by typing "task" into the Start search area, or by starting Control Panel, typing "task" and look for Task Scheduler. In Task Scheduler, on the left double-click Task Scheduler Library. Right click and End and Disable each one of those applications above you don't want, so that it isn't started next time: eg BatteryLifeExtender, EasySpeedUpManager, SUPBackground. This is a less drastic solution than removing the programs individually, though that's still an option if you will never ever use it.
To install support for the Broadcom wireless, I've used the broadcom-wl kernel module package off the atrpms.net website: http://packages.atrpms.net/name/broadcom-wl/.
I allowed room for several linux distros to be installed.
My current disk layout on one netbook according to fdisk -lu is:
Disk /dev/sda: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders, total 488397168 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 2048 41945087 20971520 17 Hidden HPFS/NTFS /dev/sda2 * 41945088 42149887 102400 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT /dev/sda3 42149888 128133119 42991616 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT /dev/sda4 128133120 488394751 180130816 f W95 Ext'd (LBA) /dev/sda5 128135168 214118399 42991616 17 Hidden HPFS/NTFS /dev/sda6 214120448 381892607 83886080 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT /dev/sda7 381894656 382406655 256000 83 Linux /dev/sda8 382408704 387727359 2659328 82 Linux swap / Solaris /dev/sda9 387729408 438061055 25165824 83 Linux /dev/sda10 438063104 488394751 25165824 83 Linux