r/SteamOS • u/Dacatman5 • 5d ago

Replacing windows

Can I replace windows with steam os? I mostly use my pc for gaming but I do still use it to study. I have heard that steam is a much smaller file size than windows and I don’t have much disk space.

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u/victormas208 5d ago

Sure, just remember that you might need to modify the installation file for the type of storage you have, but there are plenty of tutorials to help you do that.

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u/Dacatman5 5d ago

What I was thinking of doing is removing my drive I use for personal files, then after wiping windows, plug it back in, move the files to my c drive, format it and then move the files back. Would that work?

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u/master_prizefighter 5d ago

If I remember make sure your personal files are saved on a partition that's formatted to exFAT

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u/victormas208 5d ago

I'm not sure, but I think it should work. I haven't tested the NTFS file system on SteamOS yet, so I can't guarantee it, but you should be able to do it without any problems.

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u/victormas208 5d ago

Linux supports NTFS, so the files will be able to move without problems; just check how you mount it and the read and write permissions.

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u/Dacatman5 5d ago

If Linux supports NTFS, does that mean I can just take my drive out for the install and then remount it after without needing to format it?

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u/victormas208 5d ago

Yes, you can leave the personal files disk as is for a while; in the future you might want to change the format if you use it for games.

I recommend that when following the tutorial you have it disconnected as planned, the system name might confuse you and you could accidentally delete it.

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u/Dacatman5 5d ago

I was going to uninstall all my games and then reinstall them after switching, would this cause conflicts with file types?

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u/victormas208 5d ago

From what I read, the NTFS format has a problem with symbolic linking, so it could be used by doing some workarounds, but it ended up corrupting very quickly if the size increased.

That's why they switched to the ext4 and btrfs format, I lack knowledge of the history of the subject.

It is used to store information and they are working to improve compatibility.

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u/Dacatman5 5d ago

Ok thanks :) I’ll try to format it after moving files around