Latitude E6510 Owner's Lounge

FWIW, I'd suggest using a completely separate disk (external USB or ESATA) for media files. This has at least two advantages:

1. When you use the same disk for system and media, whether in separate partitions or in one, you're forcing the disk heads to jump back and forth between the movie you're playing and whatever system file some other program wants to use. (like the system error log if there are network issues) This potentially can cause glitches in the playback if there isn't enough video and audio buffering.

2. More important, I think, is that you can connect the media disk to whatever system you want to use. This can be particularly important if the laptop isn't available for some reason -- like you're in the middle of reinstalling Win7

Modern external drives are readily available for reasonable prices. I just got a couple of external USB 2.25" 500GB disks for less than $100 each.

 

Back to my own problem (video driver restarts) -- I just discovered (while downloading drivers in preparation for a full Win7 install) that there's a new firmware release (A05). Although I suspect it's unlikely to help, that'll be my next step before the reinstall.

p.s. It looks like a major new feature in the firmware is Intel AntiTheft v2.0.24.

 

>>- Minimizes fragmentation on the operating system drive and the subsequent performance hit. This can be a real problem if videos/images are saved/deleted frequently.

My music and photos just get stored once and backed up once. I suspect most media stores are static.

>>>- Provides flexibility for back up. Often it is not necessary to back up files on the D: partition or to back them up as often as more critical files on C: partition. Storing the media files on a separate partition reduces the amount of time/space needed to back up the more critical files on the C: partition.

I use two backup tasks... a rotating differential for data and an overwriting incremental for media. Sources can be any file or folder. No system backup... too much overhead for something I'd never use in the unlikely event I had to recover my system.

>>- If the media files are saved to a separate NTFS partition, they can be easily shared with other local or networked users without messing with the file/folder permissions on your user profile. If privacy is important, NTFS permissions can be used to prevent other users from accessing the files/folders.

I've shared media folders ready-only with group Everyone... didn't matter which partition... it still burdened my system drive while I was trying to use it. A notebook user may not want to be a transient media server.

You have a rational for partitioning, but does such a build really make a difference in practice?

GK

 

You could wait on that. Finish the clean install with existing BIOS to see what you get. If your system is stable, you won't wrongly suspect the old BIOS. Then you can update the BIOS.

GK

 

yup yup

+1000

 

exactly

i just did a fresh install of 7 on my e6510 and stuck with the original a03 bios

*runs fine with it, and after reading up extensively the new a05 has been a biatch to install with win7 64bit, seems lots of pplz have had bsod's and the only
'win' is to install that there new bios off a flash drive with a dos dealy going on......
and the 'fixes' in a05 don't apply to me.....yet

 

I don't know what you mean by "blatch to install". Can you provide a URL discussing the issues? The firmware update (from A04) took about a minute for me (W7 x64) and things seem to be running OK for now.

How long does a full Win7 install take, anyhow? I haven't done one yet. Of course, after that there are all the applications to reinstall afterward... (3D graphics and paint programs for me).

 

'biatch' = b i tch = difficult

altho some have had no probs i guess and you sound like one of them

i didn't time my fresh install of win7 but it was about 30 min ??
^^
that with an i5-540m and one 2gig stick of ram in

will look for those links....

 

Anywhere from 5min (yes) to 35min depending on your system configuration.
If you have a fast SSD, and you run Windows 7 setup from a very fast USB memory key, it should take 5min. It will take more time if you use an fast 7200RPM HDD like the Western Digital Caviar Black 1Tb drive, or a Samsung SpinPoint F1 (~7-10min). If you use the optical drive about on a standard laptop or desktop HDD about 25-30-35min, based on the optical drive speed, and HDD.

XP takes an easy 1 hour, plus several hours to install all the updates, especially that Microsoft trowed XP updated on very slow (probably old) servers.

Win7 should not take more than ~35min to install (clean install), at worst.

Add a few minute to all the numbers for the updates, and possible restart, and the benchmark (Windows Experience Index) that occur when Windows starts for the first time.

 

Latitude E6510 BIOS A05 = BSOD