Replacing your Operating System
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sgunhouse Moderator Volunteer last edited by
Reformatting? Side effects are not out of the question, but that is why you need to optimize the disk first. The Linux installer doesn't really check what part of the disk (and how much) Windows needs. So also make note of how much free space you have, and make sure you leave enough for Windows when you resize the partition. That is, if you're just experimenting with Linux then you should use less than half of the free space for Linux. If you're planning to use Linux predominantly, then you could use more for Linux, but if you want Windows to run and use a web browser (which requires a cache) and so on you need enough free space for that cache and for saving files. If you have one of those 500 GB drives and still have 400 GB free you can do pretty much what you want - 100 GB free is plenty for XP, but also plenty for Linux. If you have one of those 50 GB drives and only 10 GB free you may be in trouble ... while there are versions of Linux that'll work okay in less than 5 GB you won't have too much space left for your own files.
Make sure you check with the distributor of your Linux and see what they recommend as far as minimum space on the drive. If space is tight, get rid of unneeded files - empty your browser cache(s), delete programs you don't use, etc. After freeing as much space as you can, then optimize the disk and see what you have.
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A Former User last edited by
I guess I can put the new program onto another [logical] disc. Can't I?
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sgunhouse Moderator Volunteer last edited by
If you can arrange to boot it, you can put it anywhere. The menu has to be on your primary (physical) drive, if you don't have some way of changing primary drives. And the menu doesn't actually all fit in the boot sector, so Linux has to be on the same physical drive. But Windows itself doesn't recognize non-Windows partitions, hence logical drives in the Windows sense don't matter - if you install Linux in place of some existing logical drive, Windows will act like the drive no longer exists.
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linuxmint7 last edited by
Best thing to do (for Linux anyway) is burn a live-CD from some of the more popular, accessible and easy to use distributions (Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Debian, PCLinuxOS etc), boot from it and try them out for yourself. See which one/s you like and go from there. No point discussing how to install/dual-boot Linux when you haven't even tried it (in it's many forms) as you may not even like it.
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A Former User last edited by
If you can arrange to boot it,...
What does that mean?
But Windows itself doesn't recognize non-Windows partitions, hence logical drives in the Windows sense don't matter - if you install Linux in place of some existing logical drive, Windows will act like the drive no longer exists.
I'm not sure...
If I remember correctly, I was somehow informed that the drive is physically one, but divided into two logical discs. All the current operational (for the Windows and other stuff) seems to be on disc C, while the other one is o'k - not used by any soft, has enough memory and doesn't need defragmentation (checked). -
A Former User last edited by
Best thing to do (for Linux anyway) is burn a live-CD from some of the more popular, accessible and easy to use distributions (Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Debian, PCLinuxOS etc), boot from it and try them out for yourself. See which one/s you like and go from there. No point discussing how to install/dual-boot Linux when you haven't even tried it as you may not even like it.
It seems irrelevant now whether I like it or not. As I'm not going to have an "advanced" Windows instead, and the only other way for a PC is to get Linux.
So what do you say? I don't need to install-install Linux for now - but can rather do something - what is it exactly?
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sgunhouse Moderator Volunteer last edited by
What does that mean?
I've heard of computers computers which could be set in BIOS which HDD to boot from, if you only have one physical drive it does not matter.
Are you sure the other drive is empty, and large enough? Most systems do have 2 or more partitions, but that's because the BIOS can't actually boot drive C. The other drive is what the BIOS boots, which has enough code to actually boot Windows. Either that, or the other drive contains your system backup image ...
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A Former User last edited by
Are you sure the other drive is empty, and large enough?
Not empty. Should it be EMPTY?? Like empty-empty??
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A Former User last edited by
Either that, or the other drive contains your system backup image ...
I have no idea about the "image". No backups of the system I could see; disc D seems free from that, in any case >_>
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linuxmint7 last edited by
Ah!/oh!, It's a netbook, and does not have a CD drive.
Do you have a 4GB USB flash drive/Memory stick that is empty/blank joshl ?.
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A Former User last edited by
Most of those take SD cards ...
That's true.
So, will I need to throw away/move gigabytes of files to make it for a second OS? Cards and sticks are not tidily enough incorporated to the hard body of the PC. Then - move?..
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linuxmint7 last edited by
You could use a USB flash drive/memory stick just for testing Linux and (if you like it) installing it to the computers internal hard drive (as dual boot) then format/wipe/blank the USB flash drive/memory stick, as it would not be needed any more.
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A Former User last edited by
Linux, to give it a try, shall I have a totally empty drive?
(It is irrelevant if it'll be a USB or SD, isn't it?) -
linuxmint7 last edited by
Yes, it is best if it is empty. Do you have an empty SD card or USB flash drive/memory stick ?.
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A Former User last edited by
Yes, it is best if it is empty.
What if it's just bought, for example - should I better format it still? Or will it be not necessary?
