I'm planning to switch my laptop from Windows 10 to Linux, probably Mint with the Cinnamon desktop. I don't want to dual-boot since I'm eventually moving to a Mac and won't need Windows anymore. How much free space do I actually need for the installation? Also, how risky is it to not have backups before I make this change?
4 Answers
It's safer to have at least 6 to 8 GB for a basic desktop on most distributions. Just jumping into an installation without backups is risky. You may want to backup any vital files because if something goes wrong, it could lead to a complete loss of data.
If you're doing a clean install of Mint, around 20GB should suffice for the OS itself. But keep in mind that you'll want extra space for applications and personal files. It's absolutely not advisable to skip backups—think of it as putting your data at risk without a safety net.
For a clean install of Linux Mint, 20 GB should be sufficient. But if you can, I recommend having about 30 to 40 GB available. This will give you some breathing room for apps and files. And definitely make sure to back up your data! If anything happens during the installation, you don't want to lose anything important.
From what I've found, Linux Mint needs around 15 to 20 GB of space for installation. It's a good idea to keep some extra room for your files and applications too. If you're not dual-booting, remember that the installation will wipe everything on your current hard drive, so you'll need to be okay with losing all your existing data.

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