Replacing your Operating System
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A Former User last edited byEither 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 byAh!/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 byMost 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 byYou 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 byLinux, 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?)
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linuxmint7 last edited byYes, 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 byYes, 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 byDoes 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 byYou 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?
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A Former User last edited byDoes 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... <_<
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linuxmint7 last edited byDoes 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 byThere perhaps is another possibility (people are talking about): what is a virtual box? 
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sgunhouse Moderator Volunteer last edited byYou 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. 
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A Former User last edited byYou know that Windows now uses NTFS..? Have no idea. Even don't know what it is... :rolleyes: 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. You mean once it's installed, it won't be messing badly with my own private files should I place them into that partition? Linux files have an owner and a group, they track when they were created and not just last modified ... stuff like that.  
 (In my Windows though, I sorta have a "Created" property, too.)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. Is it that the CPU and such things should be more powerful for that? 
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sgunhouse Moderator Volunteer last edited byIs it that the CPU and such things should be more powerful for that? It helps, certainly. You mean once it's installed, it won't be messing badly with my own private files should I place them into that partition? It won't even be using that partition - but the partition will be smaller.