I'm new to Linux and want to install Linux Mint Xfce on an older Lenovo laptop with an i3-4030U and 16 GB of RAM. The laptop has a 119 GB SSD containing Windows and a 931 GB HDD containing my photos, videos, and documents. I want to replace Windows with Linux on the SSD only and leave the HDD completely unchanged. I plan to boot Mint from a USB, test it, and then install it to the SSD. I don't currently have an external drive for backups. What is the safest way to make sure the installer does not modify the HDD? Is selecting the 119 GB drive and its partitions enough, or would it be better to temporarily disconnect the HDD during installation? Also, once Linux is installed, will it automatically detect and let me access the existing NTFS partitions on the HDD?
3 Answers
You don’t necessarily have to remove the HDD from the laptop. If it uses a SATA connection, you can temporarily unplug the SATA cable, install Mint on the SSD, shut down, and reconnect the HDD. That guarantees the installer can’t format it or use its EFI partition.
If you leave both drives connected, carefully verify the drive size and partition layout before continuing. Choose the 119 GB SSD as the installation target and check where the EFI system partition and bootloader will be installed. Installers may reuse an existing EFI partition if one is detected, so disconnecting the HDD is the least ambiguous approach. After reconnecting it, Linux should normally detect the NTFS partitions automatically; you can open them from the file manager, though you may need to mount them first.
If you aren’t completely confident identifying the correct drive and every partition, temporarily disconnecting the HDD is the safest option. Install Linux with only the SSD connected, then shut down and reconnect the HDD afterward. This also prevents the installer from putting the EFI boot files or bootloader on the wrong drive. Selecting the disk by its size can work, but it’s easier to make a serious mistake when multiple disks and partitions are visible.
Mint usually leaves other drives alone when the correct target is selected, but disconnecting the data drive is still a good precaution when its contents are important and there’s no backup.