ubuntu install

[Nik_]

when installing ubuntu if I select my hdd(with all my data) and click the - to change it and make a partiton for linux will it delete all my files and make the entire drive "free space" or will it only make free space "free space". I've been using a usb for ubuntu but it's almost out of space and it's really slow. 

[Drak3]

It should only use the partition that is free space or unformatted, but you should back it up if you have a second HDD.

[G27Racer_188]

39 minutes ago, Nik_ said:

when installing ubuntu if I select my hdd(with all my data) and click the - to change it and make a partiton for linux will it delete all my files and make the entire drive "free space" or will it only make free space "free space". I've been using a usb for ubuntu but it's almost out of space and it's really slow. 

I'd suggest to first go into windows disk management and shrink the volume so there is free space on the hdd. After that install linux and select that free space.

[Nik_]

38 minutes ago, G27Racer_188 said:

I'd suggest to first go into windows disk management and shrink the volume so there is free space on the hdd. After that install linux and select that free space.

i cant. otherwise I would, windows is broken, which is why im using linux and why it's on a usb

[G27Racer_188]

1 hour ago, Nik_ said:

i cant. otherwise I would, windows is broken, which is why im using linux and why it's on a usb

Well if you have an external drive, or a spare internal drive to backup the files you need with usb linux, and then reformat the drive and install linux.

 

Maybe there is an option to shrink the volume in linux, via gparted or whatever its called. I'm not familiar with linux.

[Nik_]

10 hours ago, G27Racer_188 said:

Well if you have an external drive, or a spare internal drive to backup the files you need with usb linux, and then reformat the drive and install linux.

 

Maybe there is an option to shrink the volume in linux, via gparted or whatever its called. I'm not familiar with linux.

Can I transfer data between computers with any usb to usb cable?

 

gparted requires me to unmount and I wasn't sure if that would delete any files or have a chance of breaking something

[G27Racer_188]

3 minutes ago, Nik_ said:

Can I transfer data between computers with any usb to usb cable?

 

gparted requires me to unmount and I wasn't sure if that would delete any files or have a chance of breaking something

No you cannot connect computers with usb cable.

 

I am now confused. What OS do you have installed on your hdd?

[Nik_]

1 minute ago, G27Racer_188 said:

No you cannot connect computers with usb cable.

 

I am now confused. What OS do you have installed on your hdd?

hdd is windows, my windows "broke" and blue screens on launch, I made a bsod thread but dont think i got any replies. 

usb is linux but it still allows me to access my hdd files. 

 

I saw somewhere I could use usb to usb, but wasn't sure if it had to be a special one or something. Would there be anyway to transfer data from my desktop to my laptop without using a usb, the only usbs I have right now are a 4gb which I don't want to use for transferring 500gb's of data and the other is a 64gb which has linux on it currently. I tried shrinking volume from safe mode but it doesn't allow that.

[G27Racer_188]

3 minutes ago, Nik_ said:

hdd is windows, my windows "broke" and blue screens on launch, I made a bsod thread but dont think i got any replies. 

usb is linux but it still allows me to access my hdd files. 

 

I saw somewhere I could use usb to usb, but wasn't sure if it had to be a special one or something. Would there be anyway to transfer data from my desktop to my laptop without using a usb, the only usbs I have right now are a 4gb which I don't want to use for transferring 500gb's of data and the other is a 64gb which has linux on it currently. I tried shrinking volume from safe mode but it doesn't allow that.

But tell me one thing, do you want to reinstall windows on hdd or do you wan to switch to linux.

[Nik_]

1 minute ago, G27Racer_188 said:

But tell me one thing, do you want to reinstall windows on hdd or do you wan to switch to linux.

I eventually want windows back, I want to dual boot but my main os will be windows. I need to get my files off the pc so I can restore

[G27Racer_188]

1 minute ago, Nik_ said:

I eventually want windows back, I want to dual boot but my main os will be windows. I need to get my files off the pc so I can restore

OK, first have you tried using system restore in windows to restore your computer. You should be able to run in safe mode.

 

Maybe that can get rid of blue screen.

[Nik_]

1 minute ago, G27Racer_188 said:

OK, first have you tried using system restore in windows to restore your computer. You should be able to run in safe mode.

 

Maybe that can get rid of blue screen.

system restore as in to an old point? yes

[G27Racer_188]

1 minute ago, Nik_ said:

system restore as in to an old point? yes

And that didn't didn't do much, did it?

 

Anyway, have you made your 64GB usb bootable via rufus or something? Do you just run linux via live usb, or have you sellected install and installed linux on 64gb usb?

 

The reason I'm asking is when i made a bootable usb via rufus (for linux mint) it only took about 1GB on the usb and other 3 were free (4GB usb), so your 64GB should have lots empty if you need to move files.

 

Also did you have partitions on your hdd in windows or was it just one big C drive?

[Nik_]

1 minute ago, G27Racer_188 said:

And that didn't didn't do much, did it?

 

Anyway, have you made your 64GB usb bootable via rufus or something? Do you just run linux via live usb, or have you sellected install and installed linux on 64gb usb?

 

The reason I'm asking is when i made a bootable usb via rufus (for linux mint) it only took about 1GB on the usb and other 3 were free (4GB usb), so your 64GB should have lots empty if you need to move files.

 

Also did you have partitions on your hdd in windows or was it just one big C drive?

its one drive rn.

 

I used the 4gb to make a bootable drive via unetbootin and installed linux and other stuff to the usb, it has 15gb free

[G27Racer_188]

1 minute ago, Nik_ said:

its one drive rn.

 

I used the 4gb to make a bootable drive via unetbootin and installed linux and other stuff to the usb, it has 15gb free

How much free space did you have in windows, and how much of data do you actually need to save vs something that can be re-downloaded.

[Nik_]

1 minute ago, G27Racer_188 said:

How much free space did you have in windows, and how much of data do you actually need to save vs something that can be re-downloaded.

I'm not sure, a lot of it is probably programs I could redownload it has about 400gb of free space

[G27Racer_188]

1 minute ago, Nik_ said:

I'm not sure, a lot of it is probably programs I could redownload it has about 400gb of free space

OK, my idea is that, if possible in disk management in safe mode, you create another partition on hdd that will use those 400 GB and than copy files you need to that new partition. Than you can reinstall windows directly without needing linux and keep important data.

I know for a fact that this ^^ would work as I have done that twice on this PC I'm using right now.

[Nik_]

5 minutes ago, G27Racer_188 said:

OK, my idea is that, if possible in disk management in safe mode, you create another partition on hdd that will use those 400 GB and than copy files you need to that new partition. Than you can reinstall windows directly without needing linux and keep important data.

I know for a fact that this ^^ would work as I have done that twice on this PC I'm using right now.

i'll see if I can make a partition 

[Nik_]

2 hours ago, G27Racer_188 said:

OK, my idea is that, if possible in disk management in safe mode, you create another partition on hdd that will use those 400 GB and than copy files you need to that new partition. Than you can reinstall windows directly without needing linux and keep important data.

I know for a fact that this ^^ would work as I have done that twice on this PC I'm using right now.

it only lets me make a 13gb partition with 388gb free 

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

Your best bet would be to get an external HDD (size depending on how much data you have on your internal drive) and connect that to the PC while Linux is running from the USB stick. 

Format the drive if needed (make sure you select NTFS as Windows can't read most of the more advanced filesystems that Linux would prefer) , then copy your files from your internal HDD to the eternal one. 

 

Once you're done you just eject and unplug the external drive, format the internal one, reboot the PC without the Linux stick and run the Windows installer.  When selecting which drive to install Windows on, change the partition size so that you have enough room for Linux.  While it is possible to resize the Windows partition after the install, I found that Windows does like to put the system restore data towards the end of the partition, limiting how much you can shrink it. 

 

 

 

Sounds to me like you had no backup of your data at all.  Seeing as you still can access your data, now would be a very good time to start backing up things.  Consider the cost of that external HDD an investment. You'll be happy you have it if your internal HDD ever crashes completely or if you get ransomware on your PC.

[Nik_]

34 minutes ago, Captain Chaos said:

Your best bet would be to get an external HDD (size depending on how much data you have on your internal drive) and connect that to the PC while Linux is running from the USB stick. 

Format the drive if needed (make sure you select NTFS as Windows can't read most of the more advanced filesystems that Linux would prefer) , then copy your files from your internal HDD to the eternal one. 

 

Once you're done you just eject and unplug the external drive, format the internal one, reboot the PC without the Linux stick and run the Windows installer.  When selecting which drive to install Windows on, change the partition size so that you have enough room for Linux.  While it is possible to resize the Windows partition after the install, I found that Windows does like to put the system restore data towards the end of the partition, limiting how much you can shrink it. 

 

 

 

Sounds to me like you had no backup of your data at all.  Seeing as you still can access your data, now would be a very good time to start backing up things.  Consider the cost of that external HDD an investment. You'll be happy you have it if your internal HDD ever crashes completely or if you get ransomware on your PC.

That was my original plan, I understand having a drive to backup to would be a good idea, but I don't like spending money, so for the time being I'm going to try transferring stuff to a laptop I have and then restoring my pc. I just have to go through every file and make sure I don't miss anything. 

[G27Racer_188]

4 hours ago, Nik_ said:

That was my original plan, I understand having a drive to backup to would be a good idea, but I don't like spending money, so for the time being I'm going to try transferring stuff to a laptop I have and then restoring my pc. I just have to go through every file and make sure I don't miss anything. 

Well it looks like slow method is the only one that will work. Maybe ask some of your friends if the have external hdd they could lend you.

 

Maybe, if you don't have something really important on 64gb usb, you could reformat the 64GB usb and just run linux via live image on 4GB usb. That would speed up the process by a little bit.

[Nik_]

11 hours ago, G27Racer_188 said:

Well it looks like slow method is the only one that will work. Maybe ask some of your friends if the have external hdd they could lend you.

 

Maybe, if you don't have something really important on 64gb usb, you could reformat the 64GB usb and just run linux via live image on 4GB usb. That would speed up the process by a little bit.

 

16 hours ago, Captain Chaos said:

Your best bet would be to get an external HDD (size depending on how much data you have on your internal drive) and connect that to the PC while Linux is running from the USB stick. 

Format the drive if needed (make sure you select NTFS as Windows can't read most of the more advanced filesystems that Linux would prefer) , then copy your files from your internal HDD to the eternal one. 

 

Once you're done you just eject and unplug the external drive, format the internal one, reboot the PC without the Linux stick and run the Windows installer.  When selecting which drive to install Windows on, change the partition size so that you have enough room for Linux.  While it is possible to resize the Windows partition after the install, I found that Windows does like to put the system restore data towards the end of the partition, limiting how much you can shrink it. 

 

 

 

Sounds to me like you had no backup of your data at all.  Seeing as you still can access your data, now would be a very good time to start backing up things.  Consider the cost of that external HDD an investment. You'll be happy you have it if your internal HDD ever crashes completely or if you get ransomware on your PC.

I've gotten everything, or mostly everything I could find off my pc, now I'm trying to reset, but idk how without having a disk(a usb bootloader would also work I assume) but I don't want to use the linux bootloader usb yet. I have a few issues, how would I activate windows if it wont let me use the code on my pc. Also with my 64gb usb, I used some of the space for swap area and the rest for linux, but I can only get it back to 57.5gb rather then the 61.9 or something that it should be. How do I fix this. then I can make a bootloader on this usb instead of using my linux  usb. Hopefully this all made sense and I can figure this out.

 

Once I get windows fixed whats the best way to dual boot, because I'd still like to have linux, but this time run it off my hdd. I've heard about easybcd or w/e but not sure if that's whats its for or how to use it. Or would be better to just make a second partiton(100-150gb) when installing windows as suggested and just install linux on that later. 

[G27Racer_188]

13 minutes ago, Nik_ said:

 

I've gotten everything, or mostly everything I could find off my pc, now I'm trying to reset, but idk how without having a disk(a usb bootloader would also work I assume) but I don't want to use the linux bootloader usb yet. I have a few issues, how would I activate windows if it wont let me use the code on my pc. Also with my 64gb usb, I used some of the space for swap area and the rest for linux, but I can only get it back to 57.5gb rather then the 61.9 or something that it should be. How do I fix this. then I can make a bootloader on this usb instead of using my linux  usb. Hopefully this all made sense and I can figure this out.

 

Once I get windows fixed whats the best way to dual boot, because I'd still like to have linux, but this time run it off my hdd. I've heard about easybcd or w/e but not sure if that's whats its for or how to use it. Or would be better to just make a second partiton(100-150gb) when installing windows as suggested and just install linux on that later. 

If you have windows 10 it will reactivate itself automatically.

 

The thing I'd do is reformat the 64 usb and then make it in a windows install usb. Then use that usb to either try to repair current windows install, or do a full clean install (recommended). Next make another partition for linux, and install linux to that partition via 4GB usb. When you install linux select install along side other OS (something similar don't remember exact wording). That will make dual boot just fine using linux bootlader. So when you boot up the computer you will have the option to select which os you want.

 

Also bootable usb and bootloader are very different things. Bootable usb is a drive that can be booted off of, but bootlader is set of files that boot the operating system.

[Nik_]

13 minutes ago, G27Racer_188 said:

If you have windows 10 it will reactivate itself automatically.

 

The thing I'd do is reformat the 64 usb and then make it in a windows install usb. Then use that usb to either try to repair current windows install, or do a full clean install (recommended). Next make another partition for linux, and install linux to that partition via 4GB usb. When you install linux select install along side other OS (something similar don't remember exact wording). That will make dual boot just fine using linux bootlader. So when you boot up the computer you will have the option to select which os you want.

 

Also bootable usb and bootloader are very different things. Bootable usb is a drive that can be booted off of, but bootlader is set of files that boot the operating system.

I have windows 7, The usb is already reformated, but on linux it shows up as two things, a 57gb drive and a 3gb drive, how do I make it one again. What do you mean by windows install usb and clean install. I'm just trying to do things right the first time.