On Jan 12, 2012 11:13 AM, "Armelius Cameron" <armeliusc@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> On Wednesday, January 11, 2012 01:25:40 PM linux guy wrote:
> > It turns out the gparted can copy partitions.
> > http://www.ghacks.net/2010/06/03/copy-partitions-with-gparted/
> >
> > I'm not 100% sure that I am going to need Windows. I won't know until
> > I buy a piece of software and attempt to run it under wine in a couple
> > months.
>
> You can check Wine database to see if the software is fully supported or not
> in Wine (provided the software is in the database):
> http://appdb.winehq.org/
>
> Another option is to use virtual machine running Windows on Linux. There's
> several solutions here; I've had good luck with VirtualBox in the past. VMWare
> may also work. Search online for instruction on how to convert an install to a
> virtual machine (I've done this but I can't remember what I did). That way you
> don't even need to dual boot and only run Windows in VM environment when
> needed.
>
> >
> > Does anyone see a problem with installing Linux on the SSD and using
> > it for a few months, then, if I need to, copy it to a backup drive,
> > installing Windows on the SSD and then copying the Linux install back
> > to the SSD ?
>
> One way you can do is to create an NTFS partition as the first partion from the
> beginning in the SSD. You can leave it unused. The install linux on the
> subsequent partition. If you do need to install Windows, just install it on
> the first partition. If you don't, then you can do other things to utilize the
> empty space (i.e. copy or expand the linux partition, etc).
>
> Note that if you need to, you _can_ install Windows after Linux on the
> subsequent (i.e. not first) partition. So that's another option. The only thing
> you need to do is to trick Windows using GRUB to make it thinks that it's the
> first partition. I've done that too; look for instruction somewhere online (or
> if you really need to I can probably dig out my old grub config).
>
>
> > What special things happen in a Linux install to make dual boot work ?
>
> None. Linux is _very_ resilient and robust to hardware changes. It'll figure
> itself out. The only thing you need to worry is the GRUB install on the MBR
> and its configuration. This you can always do with any live-CD (doesn't even
> need to be the same distro) if you know what you're doing (e.g. make sure the
> root, boot partition is correct in the config, etc).
> I've done things like pulling a drive with linux install for my home server
> from a hardware that had a mobo failure, and just put it into a different
> hardware that has different config (same arch though), and it just worked. I've
> also move an HD with linux install as primary, secondary, chain-loading it
> with Windows, etc, and it just worked.
>
> AC
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Just a word of caution on this approach :
Always assume that the Windows installer will kill the bootloader on every drive plugged into your system, as soon as the disc boots. Its not an accurate assumption, but a safe one, just like making backups before replacing operating systems or manipulating partition tables.
If you think you might need it, and can't resize the existing partition, I suggest starting from scratch with your desired partition scheme as the very first task, and installing windows before Fedora. Never underestimate that platform's propensity to break dual boot or anything foreign.
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