Wiping HP Stream Laptop from BIOS to Install Linux Mint 20
I recently discovered that LINUX OS comes in various forms and that it typically requires far less computing power than Windows 10. This is perfect for the HP Stream I own which is basically useless when running Windows 10. The originally installed programs took up approximately 21gb of the 32gb hard drive. This laptop is not made for upgrade, alteration, or any type of re-configuring of the hardware so my only option to increase it’s stock performance was to use a USB storage device as my “C:” drive. Doing that allowed me to direct any newly installed or stored information to be placed on that device instead of the internal storage. While that helped a small amount, there are non-removable stock programs that would automatically update and take my available internal storage down to 5gb or less. I fought this multiple times and was only able to achieve 8gb of free storage (the minimum required to make a bootable fresh Windows 10 install thumb drive) after deleting many core functions we typically use with Windows 10. My solution was to dump Windows 10 all together and install Linux Mint 20.
After a bit of research, I created a bootable Linux Mint 20 thumb drive using BalenaEtcher. I first downloaded Linux Mint 20 onto my desktop of a separate and far more powerful Windows 10 PC, then opened BalenaEtcher and flashed the drive into a bootable device within a couple of minutes.
After getting my bootable drive squared away, I booted from that drive and tried to install Linux. I encountered multiple errors while attempting to do this (because I have never used any Linux OS and because I kept receiving storage device errors) so I decided to wipe the drive from the BIOS and attempted to give Linux a fresh drive to install on.
https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c06204100
This link provided detailed instructions on how to wipe the drive. In my case, the steps were slightly different (BIOS>Security>Secure Wipe), but it accomplished the task. I am now reinstalling Linux Mint 20 again to see if this helps.
I am in the process of installing Linux Mint 20 and have encountered no errors so far. If anyone has any more information or tips, please feel free to share. As I mess around with my PCs more (on both Linux and Windows 10), I intend to detail my findings here in hopes of assisting others experiencing similar issues.