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So I want to switch to ubuntu. Already familiar with ubuntu and all, have it installed in a VM for about a month now.

I cannot stay without a computer for more than a few hours.

My current setup is 240GB ssd (windows) + 2tb hdd + 2tb hdd. I am planning, to minimize downtime, I am going to buy a new 500GB ssd and install ubuntu on that. That way, if something goes wrong or i am unable to work on ubuntu (for some odd reason or some problem occurs), i would have the option to simply unplug the 500gb ssd, plug in my 240gb ssd and continue working on windows.

My question to you folks is the following: is switching os is as simple as unplug an ssd and plug in another ssd?

Would GRUB not allow me to do that? Do I have to change anything int he BIOS?

Thanks!

JumpingElephant
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  • If UEFI not quite as easy. UEFI forgets boot entries when a drive is unplugged. But if external drive, you can partition in advance with gpt & ESP partition. Grub will not install to it, but you can copy files to ESP on external drive. UEFI only boots external drives from /EFI/Boot/bootx64.efi file which we make a copy of shimx64.efi from install. UEFI/gpt partitioning in Advance: http://askubuntu.com/questions/743095/how-to-prepare-a-disk-on-an-efi-based-pc-for-ubuntu & https://askubuntu.com/questions/913716/dual-boot-on-seperate-drives-best-configuration – oldfred Jan 24 '19 at 20:54

2 Answers2

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Yes, it is very simple, I did that before in which I had ubuntu on an HDD and another one on an SSD, all what I used to do is just switching them (since I hadn't two places for two disks, I had just one).

Malek Adawi
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  • I had an old computer laying around that had windows installed, I also had an extra 120gb ssd and i tried installing ubuntu on it, but i remember once i switched to the other ssd (the one that had windows), i remember the pc not being able to boot (could not find boot driver or something - can't remember the exact error). That's what I am afraid of happening if I do it with my current work machine. – JumpingElephant Jan 25 '19 at 09:39
  • I think that you just didn't change some BIOS settings like boot priority or boot mode or secure boot is enabled while it shouldn't be. I'm sure that you can easily switch two disks with two operating systems, because each disk must contain its OS's boat loader. – Malek Adawi Jan 26 '19 at 08:18
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You are thinking it wrong. Linux and windows can coexist on the same SSD. - Install/migrate windows to your new SSD and save it in case of dissaster, leaving ~half of unpartitioned for Linux. - Then install linux on it, and allow grub to manage your boot.

It will find windows and configure grub to select which OS you want to boot. No need to move disks at all. You can try this on a Virtualbox VM before commiting to bare metal.

Dolapevich
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  • Yeah regarding that, when I first installed windows on my machine, I tried to install ubuntu as dual boot, but the ubuntu installer would not recognize windows so I was not able to install ubuntu along side windows. – JumpingElephant Jan 25 '19 at 09:37
  • From the top of my head I can not think of any reason for that. Since the lilo times most distros support installing alonside windows, granted there is enough free. Recently they even allow to resize ntfs filesystem and partition in order to make room. Have you tried that in Virtualbox? – Dolapevich Apr 13 '19 at 12:45