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On my windows PC I have two disks, one is an SSD (Windows on it), and another HDD (general storage). Would it be possible to dual boot Windows and Ubuntu. Ubuntu on the hard drive, however I wouldn't want it to take up too much space. I hope this makes sense, I'm new to Linux and other things similar.

yoyoyo
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  • Unplug the Windows SSD and install Ubuntu on the HDD in the same BIOS/UEFI mode Windows is installed in. After installing Ubuntu boot it and run sudo update-grub . Windows will be added to the boot menu. Ubuntu should be okay on the HDD, it mainly runs in RAM which is faster than SSD. – C.S.Cameron Aug 30 '21 at 13:26
  • I forgot mention this is a laptop, so I can't really unplug the SSD. – yoyoyo Aug 30 '21 at 14:53

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Yes, you can. Still, it is recommended to have your operating systems all on the fastest drive, i.e., the SSD drive. This is what really makes for a general perceived strong increase in speed of your computer. In contrast, loading e.g. a Writer document from a slower drive will not "feel" much slower, except for very large files.

Even with an SSD as small as 125 GB, it is wise to preferentially place your operating systems on them. 25-30 GB for linux is adequate for the linux system files and some user configuration data. You could then place your actual user files on the hard drive, either on a dedicated partition, or on an ntfs partition that you share with the Windows installation. That way, you can access all data from both operating systems. Linux has a system of symbolic links, which allows to redirect a folder to an entirely different partition/drive without making any difference from the viewpoint of the user, i.e., data remain accessible in the same location in the file system. With this setup, your user files are on the hard drive. The user configuration data remain on the SSD.

A slightly more complex approach to set up is to partition part of the hard drive in a linux file system, and use that partition for the entire /home folder. Then, all user configuration data also will be located on the hard drive instead of the SSD. Another partition, formatted in ntfs, could then contain your user files, for access from within Linux and Windows.

vanadium
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    Ok, I am aware that the SSD is faster than the HDD but didn't know by how much. However the SDD is only around 125gb in size, and the HDD is 1TB. So I personally think it would be better for it be on the HDD for that reason, even if I lose some speed. – yoyoyo Aug 30 '21 at 12:30
  • Windows likes lots of space & NTFS normally works best if 30% free. But you only need about 30GB for / (root) on SSD and can have /home on HDD. If you have Windows data on HDD also then both should fit on SSD. – oldfred Aug 30 '21 at 14:43
  • I have about 3gb left on the SSD my man, I have no clue where it went either. Lol, nothing is getting put on there. (Yes I've done general maintenance and run virus scans.) – yoyoyo Aug 30 '21 at 23:37
  • On one computer I have Windows on a 120GB SSD and also had Ubuntu on it. After a moth there was not enough room and I had to move Ubuntu to the HDD. Ubuntu runs as fast as Windows now. Windows uses it's original boot loader and Ubuntu uses GRUB. – C.S.Cameron Aug 31 '21 at 01:29
  • @C.S.Cameron you can always move user data. And, for sure, starting the OS and loading applications will be significantly faster when from an SSD. – vanadium Aug 31 '21 at 06:33
  • Given a choice I would rather run Ubuntu on a HDD than Windows. The computer started out with Ubuntu's home partition, /home, on the HDD. My wife used to carry her home partition around on a USB drive when we traveled, she would plug it into the closest computer when traveling. – C.S.Cameron Aug 31 '21 at 10:33
  • https://askubuntu.com/questions/991189/using-existing-home-directory-from-a-bootable-external-drive – C.S.Cameron Aug 31 '21 at 10:40