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Question about dual booting Linux + Windows on different SSDs (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by redimk@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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This was solved!!

Don't know where to draw the line and say this is either a Windows post or a Linux post, but I'd rather post here because this community is more active.

To make the story short, I'm new to Linux and trying to make a jump to it in the future, but for now I decided to dual boot with W11 on my other drive until I understand what I'm doing.

Anyways, before I did a clean install of Win11, I had 2 SSDs like this:

  • Disk0 - Windows installed
  • Disk1 - Fedora installed

I wanted to clean my system and start over, and also wanted to try Endevour OS so I could later try Arch, but after doing a W11 clean install, my SSDs look different (see picture posted)

Now, I feel like my question is really basic. I specifically checked that W11 needed to only install on Disk0, so I don't know why Disk1 has some partitions:

If I remove/format Disk1, will I lose the whole OS and prompt me to install Windows again? Or should I just install it again regardless so I can install Linux (EOS) on the other drive?

Sorry if this is not a Linux question specifically, sorry if it's a stupid question and thank you in advance for any responses!

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[-] Anticorp@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 year ago

Did you remove Fedora before you started? If not then you're seeing the Fedora partitions. One would be a boot sector (EFI), the other a swap partition, and the big one your main partition.

If you did remove Fedora and reformat that disk, then Windows possibly used all available hardware. Boot Windows and see if there's a second HDD available. If so, the easiest way to fix it is to run the install again and pick where it is installed, rather than just letting it do its own thing. I say it's easier, because it looks like it put the boot sector on the second HDD and created a swap file partition. That's my guess anyways.

I advise you to install a separate boot sector for each OS on its own HDD. If you try to use one drive then Windows occasionally fubars the Linux boot sector. Then just use boot options to choose which you want to boot into at post.

[-] R2DPru@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Is it possible that disk 1 is your old Linux install? I notice that it doesn’t specify NTFS for the partition type so perhaps you’re just seeing your old EXT partition? If you’re not afraid to lose that data, run diskpart from the cmd, then type “select disk 1” then “clean”. That will wipe it of any partitions and allow you to start fresh.

[-] redimk@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 year ago

Yeah, I feel stupid, I'm sorry.

So when I had Windows installed before, Windows was separated into 4 partitions, (not sure why), and then I installed Fedora on Disk1 (secondary SSD), and it looked to me (emphasis in "looked to me") like it was only one whole partition.

However, after doing a clean W11 install it showed up as a single partition (which I was not used to) and Disk1 separated into 3 partitions, and aside from that, my laptop was no longer giving me the option to boot into either W11 or Fedora, it was just going straight to W11. That's where my confusion was from and since I already had installed everything I needed I didn't want to lose the progress.

I went to BIOS and it showed me that the boot menu was F12 (I didn't know this before) and lo and behold, I am once again able to enter Fedora, it was just me being a noob and not knowing any better. Sorry for wasting everyone's time! :(

[-] pezmaker@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I think this is what's going on. I'm guessing the smallest partition is the boot partition, the 1gb might be the Linux swap, and the 100gb the Linux install.

[-] pezmaker@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

This points to op not using default fedora partition schema but disk1 being the fedora install across those partitions

[-] pezmaker@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

Or it could be swap, root, and home

[-] mihnt@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

99% sure it's EFI, swap, and /.

[-] Petter1@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

I would install windows again with only Disk0 connected and connect Disk1 after installation in order to install Linux on it. But I’m not a windows/linux dual boot expert, I never bothered installing windows again after learning how quick and easy it is with Linux…

[-] datavoid@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Personally I would make sure you're backed up, then try something like this:

https://superuser.com/questions/665923/move-efi-system-partition-to-another-drive#109105

Edit - after reading the other comments, definitely don't do this

this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2023
33 points (94.6% liked)

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