From personal experience: if you’re trying to dual-boot with Windows, I recommend using completely separate drives (rather than separate partitions). Windows is very shitty about overwriting your Linux boot partitions when it updates. Having a separate drive isn’t fool-proof, but it helps.
I haven’t needed Windows in >10 years though, so maybe it’s not as shitty about that, but I recommend caution.
Back in the late 1900s, you could open a laptop and remove a hard drive with only a #2 phillips screw driver. So I think they mean that. Physically remove your Windows drive, install a fresh drive, install/play/learn Linux. With your Windows drive disconnected, you can do ANYTHING in Linux without fear of losing any data on that other drive.
Frustrated and just “need to work”? Reverse the process back to the Windows drive.
Feeling a little more confident and want to access your files on the Windows drive? Get a SATA-USB adapter. No need to go all enclosure just yet as that just adds steps when you need the Windows setup.
Comfortable in Linux? Copy your important data over to the Linux system, format the original drive, NOW put it in an enclosure for a handy backup drive.
Feeling confident in your newfound prowess? Connect that external drive to a Raspberry Pi and turn the Pi into a basic NAS, maybe drop a little VPN on it, and now you can access that device/drive from anywhere. At the very least, you now have a place to backup important data in case the laptop falls into a volcano. Hell, now you’ve got a reason to subscribe to SelfHosted & HomeLab.
Reference: 1998-2001 I ran a “dual boot” using removable hard drive bays on a full tower system. As noted above, Windows can sometimes mess up what makes your dual boot possible.
Currently running Mint on an older HP Envy AMD laptop to get back into the Linux swing. Win10 is my daily driver on the desktop from that need of things to work. When you’re fixing other people’s/company’s computers all day, the last thing you want to do is work on your own computer. That and a lack of real gaming support/documentation forever ago is what pushed me back to Windows. The old argument of “Linux is free” wasn’t too heavy a talking point when MS kept giving me free licenses to stick with what I was more comfortable with. Win11 reminds me of Win8, reminds me of WinME, and the cycle of MS dysfunction continues. I want off the ride.
With Gaming as viable as it is on Linux, plus much nicer tools for VMs (AND Docker exists now), I’ve got about year to convert my daily driver desktop (2025 end of Win10).
Oh and I did try to put Arch on that laptop. It was overwritten by Mint as soon as it booted up without a GUI. Now, might of been my fault for using a “base image” or something, but again I need it to just work without spending what limited time I have trying to make it work. But hey, at least folks aren’t trying to get you to install Slackware from 3.5" floppies.
Then do it? It’s a free operating system – just download whatever distro pleases you, give it a spin, see what happens.
I would but I am pretty worried about my files being lost, plus I’m waiting until I get a better device
From personal experience: if you’re trying to dual-boot with Windows, I recommend using completely separate drives (rather than separate partitions). Windows is very shitty about overwriting your Linux boot partitions when it updates. Having a separate drive isn’t fool-proof, but it helps.
I haven’t needed Windows in >10 years though, so maybe it’s not as shitty about that, but I recommend caution.
I would do this if I knew how to install separate drives, and if my main PC wasn’t a laptop
you can install seperate drives on a laptop and dualboot, I know it because I did it before
TELL ME ASAP, I’ll try to find the specs of my laptop, PLEASE TELL ME
Back in the late 1900s, you could open a laptop and remove a hard drive with only a #2 phillips screw driver. So I think they mean that. Physically remove your Windows drive, install a fresh drive, install/play/learn Linux. With your Windows drive disconnected, you can do ANYTHING in Linux without fear of losing any data on that other drive.
Frustrated and just “need to work”? Reverse the process back to the Windows drive.
Feeling a little more confident and want to access your files on the Windows drive? Get a SATA-USB adapter. No need to go all enclosure just yet as that just adds steps when you need the Windows setup.
Comfortable in Linux? Copy your important data over to the Linux system, format the original drive, NOW put it in an enclosure for a handy backup drive.
Feeling confident in your newfound prowess? Connect that external drive to a Raspberry Pi and turn the Pi into a basic NAS, maybe drop a little VPN on it, and now you can access that device/drive from anywhere. At the very least, you now have a place to backup important data in case the laptop falls into a volcano. Hell, now you’ve got a reason to subscribe to SelfHosted & HomeLab.
Reference: 1998-2001 I ran a “dual boot” using removable hard drive bays on a full tower system. As noted above, Windows can sometimes mess up what makes your dual boot possible.
Currently running Mint on an older HP Envy AMD laptop to get back into the Linux swing. Win10 is my daily driver on the desktop from that need of things to work. When you’re fixing other people’s/company’s computers all day, the last thing you want to do is work on your own computer. That and a lack of real gaming support/documentation forever ago is what pushed me back to Windows. The old argument of “Linux is free” wasn’t too heavy a talking point when MS kept giving me free licenses to stick with what I was more comfortable with. Win11 reminds me of Win8, reminds me of WinME, and the cycle of MS dysfunction continues. I want off the ride.
With Gaming as viable as it is on Linux, plus much nicer tools for VMs (AND Docker exists now), I’ve got about year to convert my daily driver desktop (2025 end of Win10).
Oh and I did try to put Arch on that laptop. It was overwritten by Mint as soon as it booted up without a GUI. Now, might of been my fault for using a “base image” or something, but again I need it to just work without spending what limited time I have trying to make it work. But hey, at least folks aren’t trying to get you to install Slackware from 3.5" floppies.
depends onthd laptop mine wasas sjmplle as opening it and puting another ssd inside. tell me what laptop us it
I’m on a single ssd dual boot setup with encryption (LUKS for Linux / Bitlocker for Windows) for over 2 years. Never had any problems.
I used this guide back then. Hope it’ll help you op.
speaking of Linux, I was supposed to upgrade to Linux when I got my new laptop, but forgot about it, sorry!
Yeah, I’m getting sick of these recommend-a-distro threads