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I have on my computer windows 7, and I bought external disk. Can I install ubuntu on my external hdd, and keep windows on computer without formatting either the ssd disk on computer nor the external disk. on both I have files I need. Can I just install Ubuntu on the external HD without formatting?

Elder Geek
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germastoned
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  • The short answer is no. But I think what you are asking is can I install without losing any data? The answer to that is yes. The recommended method for doing this varies depending on the answer to this. How much free space do you have available on the external hard drive? – Elder Geek Feb 20 '15 at 19:13
  • on ssd 120gb and I trasfer data on it from exteral, so data is not problem now.external hd 500gb. naw i am downloding ubuntu and ill tray to run installation in windows and putubuntu on external. i hop it will work. – germastoned Feb 20 '15 at 21:13
  • You will not be able to install Ubuntu from within Windows. I believe this applies to your situation http://askubuntu.com/questions/221835/installing-ubuntu-on-a-pre-installed-windows-8-64-bit-system-uefi-supported/228069#228069 – Elder Geek Feb 20 '15 at 22:28

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Boot to Windows, defrag the external disk. Boot to Ubuntu and run gparted to resize the external drive to make the partition smaller, the run the install program. Inside the install program, be sure to put Ubuntu on the external, and put the bootloader on the internal drive if you want to, or on the external if you want to be able to move the external to to other computers. Just know that if you put the boot loader on the external drive, you are going to have to either change the boot order in BIOS to boot USB first, or select USB every time you want to boot Ubuntu.

Scott Goodgame
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