Can I Use an Old NTFS Drive as My Home Directory in a Fresh Linux Install?

Using NTFS for your Linux home directory isn't a great idea. NTFS doesn't fully support Linux file permissions, which can cause issues with important files like SSH keys. Plus, there are complications when it comes to applications—like some games that may not work properly with an NTFS setup. It's better to back up your data and format the drive to a Linux-friendly file system like ext4 or xfs.

Definitely avoid mounting an NTFS filesystem directly at /home. It can lead to various problems. Instead, you could mount it in a different location, like /srv, and then use symlinks to connect to your documents and files in your home directory. That way, you can still access your files without the risks associated with NTFS.

What you could try, if you can't back up your files, is this: first, shrink the Windows partition. Then, move it to the end of the drive to make space. After that, install Linux and create a home partition on that space. Once installed, you can copy the data over from your old drive. Just make sure to have an NTFS driver ready if you're doing this during the install, as it can get tricky.