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I don't see this exact question in the prompted similar questions, so if it has been asked in a different form before, please forgive me.

I currently have 20.04 on my HDD and plan to upgrade to 22.04 (installed to an NVMe SSD) when it is released. I would like to dual-boot for a little while so I can test and make sure the new setup works as I want it to, then I will switch over fully to the 22.04 on SSD and drop the dual-boot. Can anyone suggest the best way to handle this?

Thanks!

EDITED TO ADD: From some of the comments, I realize that I did not make clear enough that my question is not about the testing phase as much as it is about the migrating from HDD to SSD boot drives with a dual-boot phase in between.

I'm still looking to see if there is a clear answer to the question of where GRUB should live during the dual-boot phase: should I put GRUB on the SSD when I install 22.04 or wait to move it there when I remove the HDD?

KneadToKnow
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  • Have you tried setting up dual boot, from external installation media? (like how many guides suggests to setup the dual boot). You may create new partitions as (swap. root, home) in SSD & install 22.04 there – Aravinth Apr 19 '22 at 11:38
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    22.04 is not yet released. But you can install any Ubuntu alongside another Linux, just chose the right option in the installer. – pLumo Apr 19 '22 at 11:39
  • yes as @pLumo said, the dual boot is always possible. If you want to start testing now itself, may start with the beta release here as of 19 Apr 22 – Aravinth Apr 19 '22 at 11:41
  • Thanks, all! Should I install/move GRUB to my SSD, since that will become the main boot drive, or should I wait and do that when I remove the HDD from the boot sequence? – KneadToKnow Apr 19 '22 at 11:55
  • Rather than beta as per prior comment; I'd grab the latest RC/Final image, ie. the latest Release Candidate or Final image which is what has replaced the beta (it's the beta with upgrades pre-applied; will be the released product unless issues are found in testing and a later RC/Final image is required to be created) - http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/milestones/429/builds (I didn't provide the actual ISO link; follow it to what you want & grab the latest using the download link; this link will show the latest where lower download links change with each re-spin) – guiverc Apr 19 '22 at 11:56
  • If installing to an external drive, you must partition in advance to get an ESP - efi system partition on the external (or any second drive). Until I started doing one of the several work arounds in bug report, I had to manually edit ESP's grub.cfg back to main working install. https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/1396379 May be easier than my method in bug report: Remove esp flag from Windows before install to second or external drive - Tim Richardson https://askubuntu.com/questions/16988/how-do-i-install-ubuntu-to-a-usb-key-without-using-startup-disk-creator – oldfred Apr 19 '22 at 12:55
  • For much (non-persistent) testing, you can simply use the installer's "Try Ubuntu" environment and thereby avoid the entire issue. – user535733 Apr 19 '22 at 13:13
  • And of course, do add yourself to the 1396379's "Does this affect me" list (upper left corner). Maybe when enough people are on the list it will get some attention after so many years. – ubfan1 Apr 19 '22 at 15:39

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grub can be installed on either of the two drives, and there's no point in moving grub to a different drive if it's not necessary to relocate it. During the dual boot phase you can leave grub where it is, and then reinstall grub after you remove the HDD.

karel
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