Dual Booting Linux Beginner Questions and Advice

[AdvocateOfNyx]

Honestly, I was inspired by the Linus and Luke game on Linux episode that was recently released.  Ever since I saw the episode I've wanted to give Linux a try.  I've never even used a Linux PC before and am definitely not ready to be moving over permanently, but I think that having some experience with Linux (and maybe moving over eventually) would be a good experiment.  That being said, I've got a couple questions:

 

1.  How much space do I need for a Linux install (probably Mint, but I haven't decided for sure yet) and how much does it matter if it is on an HDD or an SSD?

Additional information about this question:

Spoiler

Storage is a pretty limited resource on my computer.  I've got a 256gb SSD with Windows installed, a 500gb SSD that I added for games, and a 3TB HDD.  I've got about 2TB of games and applications installed between the SSDs and the HDD, so there is not a whole lot of space left.  I do regularly clean it out with SpaceSniffer (about once a week) but I just have so many things I use/play.  Currently, I've got about 400GB free total.  Most of that is on my HDD, hence the question.

 

2. What are some excuses to get me to boot into Linux?  Most of the stuff I do on my computer is gaming related, so what tasks would be "worth" rebooting into Linux for?  What are the first things I should learn (other than installing applications)?  This is sorta three questions but I think the answer to all of them will be about the same.

 

3. Would there be any issues with storage?  I was considering partitioning my drive and installing Linux to a partition.  Would I have access to the files that are stored on my drives in Windows?  Could I mess up my Windows install because important Windows files will not be protected in Linux like they are in Windows?

[OhioYJ]

1. Linux in general doesn't need much space. 60 GB is plenty (tons) of space especially if you are keep your data, like documents and such on your other drives (read Windows drives).

 

2. Personally I do everything in Linux and have for many many years. The only exception is gaming. While I could do some gaming in Linux (rare cases do), I still find that part easier in Windows. Honestly most (basically all) of my day to day tasks are much easier in Linux. I get frustrated with Windows, and how many things don't just work in Windows. So my experience is quite the opposite of many of these posts about Linux. Edit an image, audio file, video, all done in Linux. There are things I honestly just have given up on doing in Windows as tools in Linux make it easier. Perhaps it's just what I'm used to at this point.

 

3. Linux can read about anything with some caveats. I would not have the drives encrypted. While Linux can read bitlocked drives, you are complicating things. I would also disable the Turn on fast start up in Windows 10 (this likely exists in Windows 11 as well, haven't used it), this option will also make you jump through a couple hoops mounting drives in Linux. For the most part NTFS drives will just mount and be readable / writable in Linux without issue. So your Windows drives / data won't be an issue.

 

I've used quite a few distros over the years. Still using Mint at the moment. I don't think that is a bad choice either to start with.

[RONOTHAN##]

22 minutes ago, AdvocateOfNyx said:

How much space do I need for a Linux install (probably Mint, but I haven't decided for sure yet) and how much does it matter if it is on an HDD or an SSD?

Most distros will install in under 20GB of space with a decent amount of programs, though I'd probably recommend at least 64 if you can manage it. Either way, you want it to be on an SSD for the same reasons you want Windows to be on an SSD. 

 

25 minutes ago, AdvocateOfNyx said:

What are some excuses to get me to boot into Linux?

IMO, everything but gaming, a few workstation tasks (Adobe stuff doesn't run in Linux, and the alternatives are pretty hit or miss), and watching Youtube is better to do in Linux, and even that has some exceptions. Emulation is awesome on Linux, and general productivity stuff (web browsing, file management, etc.) is easier (once you get used to it, there are some learning pains as there are with any OS change). Youtube can have stuttering issues depending on your setup since most Linux web browsers have broken hardware acceleration, but there are still some that work and it can work. 

 

34 minutes ago, AdvocateOfNyx said:

What are the first things I should learn (other than installing applications)?

General use for it. A lot of things are very different between Linux and Windows, so you should primarily learn what's actually different. You should immediately try to set it up for everything you do outside of gaming (web browser, discord, Libre Office, VLC, etc.) and figure out what to add to it from their. After you learn the basics and can get by using it for most things non-gaming, then I'd recommend learning the terminal (IMO it's the best reason to use Linux over anything Windows-based), but if you don't want to learn the ways of the Unix-gods, it's not really necessary.

 

39 minutes ago, AdvocateOfNyx said:

Would I have access to the files that are stored on my drives in Windows?

Yes, though not vice versa (unless you do some weird stuff with filesystems, but don't).

 

40 minutes ago, AdvocateOfNyx said:

Could I mess up my Windows install because important Windows files will not be protected in Linux like they are in Windows?

Yes but actually no. Linux won't bork your Windows install per say, but there are definitely some issues running a system dual booted. Windows and Linux will fight each other constantly for who gets control of the bootloader, and Windows can occasionally uninstall GRUB (the default bootloader for most Linux distros), or if you decide to delete your Linux partition and go back to Windows full time, your Windows install might not even boot and you'll have to make a bootloader through the Windows installer (ask me how I know). 

 

If you're gonna do this, I'd highly recommend you do one of two things.

1.) Buy another SSD to run Linux on. The cheapest 120GB drive you can find will be plenty, and it will prevent most of the fighting between Linux and Windows for control of the bootloader.

2.) Try Linux in a VM. If you have enough CPU and RAM power, it would be a very easy way to get your hands dirty with Linux. You don't have to worry about messing up your system, you don't have to reboot in order to use it, and if you decide you don't like it, you delete the VM and it's corresponding virtual hard drive, and your system is completely unchanged. If you just want to learn Linux itself, you could mess around with WSL, though that is just command line unless you really want to get into the weeds (if it's even possible). 

[AdvocateOfNyx]

12 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

1.) Buy another SSD to run Linux on. The cheapest 120GB drive you can find will be plenty, and it will prevent most of the fighting between Linux and Windows for control of the bootloader.

I would prefer not to, but if I run in to that issue I will definitely keep this in mind as a solution if I run in to that problem.

 

23 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

2.) Try Linux in a VM. If you have enough CPU and RAM power, it would be a very easy way to get your hands dirty with Linux. You don't have to worry about messing up your system, you don't have to reboot in order to use it, and if you decide you don't like it, you delete the VM and it's corresponding virtual hard drive, and your system is completely unchanged. If you just want to learn Linux itself, you could mess around with WSL, though that is just command line unless you really want to get into the weeds (if it's even possible). 

I have an i5-4670k, not sure the performance implications but I feel like if I really want to give it the college try I should install it locally.  Otherwise, why wouldn't I just do everything on Windows because it will be faster and less performance intensive?

 

Based on the information here, it seems like I could move some stuff off of my SSD and create an 80gb partition for Linux to be up and running pretty soon?

[RONOTHAN##]

3 minutes ago, AdvocateOfNyx said:

I would prefer not to, but if I run in to that issue I will definitely keep this in mind as a solution if I run in to that problem.

 

Fair enough. It just might prevent a headache or two in the future. 

17 minutes ago, AdvocateOfNyx said:

I have an i5-4670k, not sure the performance implications but I feel like if I really want to give it the college try I should install it locally.  Otherwise, why wouldn't I just do everything on Windows because it will be faster and less performance intensive?

Fair enough, but it is a really good way to test it out, and should be your first step for figuring out if you like it. 

 

18 minutes ago, AdvocateOfNyx said:

Based on the information here, it seems like I could move some stuff off of my SSD and create an 80gb partition for Linux to be up and running pretty soon?

Yeah, that should be plenty of space.