How to move from Windows to Linux?

orl0pl@lemmy.world to Linux@lemmy.ml – 109 points –

I want to move to Linux Mint without losing data, can someone help?

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You could dual boot and access your documents from linux by mounting your windows partition. Don't forget to backup your data before you do anything, especially if this is your first time doing this.

DO NOT dual boot as a beginner. I did this when I started and would screw up something with the bootloader and be unable to boot one of the OSs (data can still be copied off, but installed app data isn't easily recovered). Being a noob at the time, I even accidentally wiped the wrong drive during a distro hop.

For a beginner I would recommend you remove your Windows SSD and keep it safe in a drawer. Or clone the drive first. Then you can mess around all you want while keeping your original SSD safe.if the data and OS/app installs are valuable then don't fuck around learning a new system with the drive in situ. Certainly don't try to learn to partition and dual boot off the same drive. The noob risk is just too high.

That only accelerates the learning and migration, no? 🤣

/scnr

Couldn't agree more xd Yeah, I've messed up Grub so many times... Now I know what not to do

I only dual booted for years. I learned very quickly how to live boot and run Boot Repair.