Will installing windows on a separate drive break my current linux install? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by Quills@sh.itjust.works to c/techsupport@lemmy.world

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So, i use linux, i don't have any windows install on my disk, but someone wants me to install windows on their HDD, so, if i plug said HDD on one of my sata ports and try to install windows 10 on it, will it mess with my linux boot? if yes, is there a way to prevent that without physically disconnecting my main drive? (my main is an nvme ssd, that's why I'd rather not remove it, already suffered enough trying to screw that in ther

Edit: Fortunally i got to convince the person to bring their whole PC, so now i won't have to deal with this anymore! Thank you very much for all the answers everyone

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[-] lurch@sh.itjust.works 0 points 8 months ago

this question could indicate your backup strategy is incomplete.

[-] Quills@sh.itjust.works 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Well i guess, i don't really have whole system backups, but not much important data to be lost either, i know backups are good, but i don't want my storage to go all on that...

Plus a broken boot on linux doesn't necessarily means all files were lost right? (Unless storage is encrypted, which mine isn't, but that's a different case)

[-] lurch@sh.itjust.works 1 points 8 months ago

Depending on how big and how full your HD is, you could just get a 1TB or 500GB USB stick and back up onto that.

Yeah, a broken boot doesn't mean it's lost, but you may need to boot into some Linux to fix it. Having an option like that would be part of a complete backup.

[-] Quills@sh.itjust.works 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Yeah, i usually have a bootable usb with some Linux distro laying around exactly for cases like that

Thanks for the advice there!

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this post was submitted on 09 Mar 2024

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