I'm currently using Fedora and want to make it my primary operating system, but it's on a smaller 1TB SSD. My Windows 11 is on a larger 2TB drive. I would like to swap them so that I can utilize the extra space for Fedora. I have a 2TB external SSD and a NAS that I can use for temporary storage. What's the best method to transfer both operating systems without running into issues?
1 Answer
You'll want to have installation media ready for both operating systems. Start by using GParted in Fedora to back up your Windows partitions to the external SSD. It's important to check for NTFS errors in Windows with chkdsk and shrink your Windows partition to less than 1TB. From there, use Fedora to copy your Windows backup to the external storage, boot into Windows, then use a tool like DiskGenius to copy your Fedora partitions to the free space on the external SSD. Finally, copy Fedora back to the original Windows drive. You might face some boot issues, so be prepared to use the installer to repair the boot process and configure GRUB appropriately afterward. Sounds technical, but it's manageable with some patience!
This sounds way more complicated than I thought! Thanks for laying it out so clearly.