Replacing your Operating System
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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?
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linuxmint7 last edited by
Does it have anything on it when you look inside it on the computer ?, I'm asking because a lot of new flash drives come with software on them already, such as 'Back-up' software or 'Encryption' software. If it does have anything on it (such as the above), then yes, it is best to format it first.
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A Former User last edited by
You are talking about reformatting it, there had better be nothing you can't lose there.
Steve, what if that disc is more-than-half empty (btw, there's a fair uninterrupted space on the disc - as long as my defragmentation analysis has shown)?
Is formatting truly necessary? Am I to lose those stored files if I try to put a Linux there as it is now? -
A Former User last edited by
Does it have anything on it when you look inside it on the computer ?,
What's wrong with your punctuating skills?
No, such new drives are not usually void. I guess I won't lose anything if I lose those... <_< -
linuxmint7 last edited by
Does it have anything on it when you look inside it on the computer ?,
What's wrong with your punctuating skills?
I was putting/typing it in simple terms, so as not to sound confusing.
No, nothing of value will be lost if you format the drive.
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A Former User last edited by
There perhaps is another possibility (people are talking about): what is a virtual box?
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sgunhouse Moderator Volunteer last edited by
You know that Windows now uses NTFS, while it used to use something else? You know that Mac systems use something completely different - if you were to take a drive actually formatted for OSX and plug it into Windows you won't be able to read it? Linux uses its own completely different file system. The Linux installer can chop a piece off of an existing partition to reformat for its own use, but Windows had better not have anything in that piece because a low-level reformat can not be undone.
While Linux can read a Windows-formatted disk. Linux uses a different set of file properties that Windows just doesn't track. Linux files have an owner and a group, they track when they were created and not just last modified ... stuff like that.
Virtualbox is a virtual machine (aka VM), it can allow you to run two different systems at the same time - not merely on the same hardware, but actually both running. I've never really had a use for that.
