I've been thinking about switching to Linux for a while now, and I think I'm finally ready to make the move. I'm leaning towards Pop!_OS since I've heard it plays nicely with gaming and Proton. I'm planning on having a dual boot setup with Windows as a backup. My PC specs are an i7-8700K, 16GB RAM (with plans to upgrade to 32GB), and an RTX 3080. One thing I'm worried about is whether my file structure will be preserved since all my drives are NTFS. I want to be able to share files between both operating systems, so I'm curious if that's possible. Also, I'm not sure if Pop!_OS is the best distro for my hardware and use case. Lastly, what complications should I expect when adding Linux to my existing Windows setup? Would I be better off just sticking with Windows 11?
2 Answers
You might run into some hiccups, especially with Nvidia graphics. Ensure you have a separate partition for the Linux distro on your SSD. A lot of people find that the prepared ISO for Nvidia can cause startup issues. If that happens, just go with the standard ISO and install the Nvidia drivers afterward. Just keep a level head as things can sometimes get tricky!
When it comes to dual booting Linux and Windows, you should know that your existing file structure on the boot drive won't be preserved since Linux uses a different filesystem (usually ext4). I wouldn't recommend dual booting because it can get messy—Windows updates can mess things up if it doesn't recognize the second OS. The best approach is to back up your files, unplug all drives except the one for the OS and the USB, and do a clean install. After that, you can reattach your other drives and format them as ext4. Make sure to only bring over files you really need from your backup to avoid clutter! Also, I suggest considering Linux Mint; it’s user-friendly and often a better option for newcomers than Pop!_OS.
I have some extra space on my SSD, so I plan on partitioning about 100GB for it. Anyway, I figured I'd rather be safe than sorry!