I'm considering setting up a dual boot on my laptop with Windows 11 on a 1TB SSD and Linux Mint on a new partition of a 4TB SSD. Right now, my 4TB drive has Windows installed on the 1TB drive, and I have about 1.5TB free on the 4TB drive where I store all my data. My plan is to shrink the 4TB drive by around 500GB to create a new partition for Linux Mint. My main concerns are whether this setup could risk my current Windows installation or the data on my 4TB SSD. I've heard that installing both operating systems on the same drive can cause issues, but since they'll be on separate SSDs, will I be okay? Also, what should I be mindful of regarding bootloaders or BIOS/UEFI settings to ensure Windows doesn't get messed up?
1 Answer
Having both Windows and Linux on separate SSDs works great for me! I switch between them using the BIOS boot menu. Just make sure to install Windows first and avoid wiping everything during the Linux installation. It's pretty rare for Windows to mess with Linux installations, but it can happen occasionally.
Is this something I should definitely do?