I use Windows 10, and I think about switching to Linux all the time. I just feel like i need atleast two whole days to backup all my important stuff, to wipe all drives clean, to config everything, but I just don’t know when I have those 2-3 days
My wife is in the same boat. But it’s more like 2 weeks, 2-3 days to migrate and the rest to get used to the different OS. After that you’re good forever though (at least until you see new shiny distro come out)
Linux can access NTFS-based drives. I say that you should just move everything onto drives that aren’t hosting the OS, then format the OS drive with a fresh Linux.
I just got a second SSD and installed Linux on it and in BIOS I set the boot order to boot from the Linux drive. Still have my SSD with Windows 10 in case I need it. During boot, I then can just press F8 and select the boot drive, should I desire to use my Windows 10 drive. Easy.
You won’t notice any difference running off of a sata ssd. Unless you are moving large files constantly there is no real world difference other than the physical size of the drive
What I did was clone my windows drive as a virtual machine on an external drive, like a flash drive, then, I wiped the drive, installed kubuntu, moved the VM back to the drive, and when I run into something that I’m like “I can’t find an alternative to this app on Linux” or “I need a copy of that one thing from my old windows install” I just boot it up, use the app and do what I need, or transfer the file over, and I’m good.
In my case I will admit, I did not wipe the windows drive and ended up dual booting, but not very often, just because I haven’t been able to get a vm to run smooth using virtual manager since I switched, running windows or Linux, pretty sure it’s because of Nvidia and their proprietary driver. If I don’t need GPU, I can use the VM just fine. But for specific games or software, switching to Windows on bare metal is handy.
I’d say the VM thing isn’t the best solution to the problem you’re facing, but it is a solution that can make the transition a little easier, it helped for me anyways, so I figured I’d share.
Try Linux on a USB stick in live mode (JUST DON’T PRESS INSTALL YET) . It will be a bit slower than a direct drive boot but you can play around with Linux and get to like it without having to wreck all your windows stuff or wipe any drives.
another good tip Ive read is to use software that has both linux and windows support and try using it on windows first.
For me the hardest part of migrating from windows to linux was switching from lightroom to darktable. it just took me time to be motivated to put in the time to learn how darktable worked, and look up peoples workflows, plus setup a good import schema
I had to spend the better part of a day fiddling with the USB stick, but honestly once the actual install was done I was pretty much running out of the box. My 7 year old uses it. Steam is even an easy native install now. There’s just not much to set up anymore if you’re just doing games/video/browsing. I spent another day doing some fancy stuff UI setup for fun, but it was working right away. A far cry from the days of messing with alsa or the tears behind getting wifi set up, let me tell ya! Was really surprised as someone who had been away from Linux distros for nearly 10 years.
Dual booting sucks if you don’t do it well. Windows keeps messing with the bios settings and the boot loader and crap like ‘fast boot’ to make your life painful.
I use Windows 10, and I think about switching to Linux all the time. I just feel like i need atleast two whole days to backup all my important stuff, to wipe all drives clean, to config everything, but I just don’t know when I have those 2-3 days
My wife is in the same boat. But it’s more like 2 weeks, 2-3 days to migrate and the rest to get used to the different OS. After that you’re good forever though (at least until you see new shiny distro come out)
Linux can access NTFS-based drives. I say that you should just move everything onto drives that aren’t hosting the OS, then format the OS drive with a fresh Linux.
I just got a second SSD and installed Linux on it and in BIOS I set the boot order to boot from the Linux drive. Still have my SSD with Windows 10 in case I need it. During boot, I then can just press F8 and select the boot drive, should I desire to use my Windows 10 drive. Easy.
This. You also have a backup plan in case there’s something that actually wont work in linux.
I second this if you can afford the extra drive.
I just realized I haven’t touched the windows one in almost a year. Time to format and clear up space for torrents.
My motherboard only has one m.2 slot, and I don’t want to run an OS from a SATA drive or buy any more adapters and drives so I do need to wipe it all
You won’t notice any difference running off of a sata ssd. Unless you are moving large files constantly there is no real world difference other than the physical size of the drive
What I did was clone my windows drive as a virtual machine on an external drive, like a flash drive, then, I wiped the drive, installed kubuntu, moved the VM back to the drive, and when I run into something that I’m like “I can’t find an alternative to this app on Linux” or “I need a copy of that one thing from my old windows install” I just boot it up, use the app and do what I need, or transfer the file over, and I’m good.
In my case I will admit, I did not wipe the windows drive and ended up dual booting, but not very often, just because I haven’t been able to get a vm to run smooth using virtual manager since I switched, running windows or Linux, pretty sure it’s because of Nvidia and their proprietary driver. If I don’t need GPU, I can use the VM just fine. But for specific games or software, switching to Windows on bare metal is handy.
I’d say the VM thing isn’t the best solution to the problem you’re facing, but it is a solution that can make the transition a little easier, it helped for me anyways, so I figured I’d share.
Try Linux on a USB stick in live mode (JUST DON’T PRESS INSTALL YET) . It will be a bit slower than a direct drive boot but you can play around with Linux and get to like it without having to wreck all your windows stuff or wipe any drives.
And make sure it is a 3.0 stick in a 3.0 port. USB 2.0 is barely even 5400 RPM speed.
2-3 days seems very optimistic, but it depends how much you enjoy tinkering with your setup.
Maybe consider dual-booting so you can go back to windows if something urgent comes up while you migrate.
another good tip Ive read is to use software that has both linux and windows support and try using it on windows first. For me the hardest part of migrating from windows to linux was switching from lightroom to darktable. it just took me time to be motivated to put in the time to learn how darktable worked, and look up peoples workflows, plus setup a good import schema
I had to spend the better part of a day fiddling with the USB stick, but honestly once the actual install was done I was pretty much running out of the box. My 7 year old uses it. Steam is even an easy native install now. There’s just not much to set up anymore if you’re just doing games/video/browsing. I spent another day doing some fancy stuff UI setup for fun, but it was working right away. A far cry from the days of messing with alsa or the tears behind getting wifi set up, let me tell ya! Was really surprised as someone who had been away from Linux distros for nearly 10 years.
Dual booting sucks if you don’t do it well. Windows keeps messing with the bios settings and the boot loader and crap like ‘fast boot’ to make your life painful.
If you have nothing backed up then you can just pretend the drive failed and you lost everything. Now you can just wipe the drive and install Linux.