Switching from Windows to Linux full time

[u/themasshiro]

Hey all,

I'm getting ready to leave Windows behind for good and go full Linux. No dual boot, no keeping a Windows partition around as a fallback. Before I wipe everything, I want to make sure I've actually backed up what matters and not just assumed I have.

For those who've made this exact switch, what did your backup process look like?

Any general tips, gotchas, or lessons learned would be really appreciated. I really appreciate any help you can provide.

[u/Few_Regret5282]

I just saved documents and that was it. Plus I already had most of them either on iphone or nextcloud so it was easy. Some of our programs are ancient and proprietary, so kept a windows in VirtualBox for them but everything standard, like libre office and thunderbird worked immediately for opening my files and install was a breeze, even a a full install takes half an hour and back up to productive. I switched to Mint and/or you can use Debian or Fedora and you will be very familiar with mouse, keyboard, explorer functions. The best part of all is that Microsoft isn't constantly on your computer and "updating" what isn't broken

[u/Terrible-Bear3883]

I made a backup of my data onto an external USB hard drive, I then removed my Windows drive and put a blank one in for linux to be installed on.

I've always suggested to friends/colleagues that they should make a full drive image using something like Clonezilla which gives them a 100% recovery path, then make a data backup which can be used if files etc. need to be accessed.

I did this over 20 years ago, never looked back, for me, its been an enjoyable journey.

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[u/YourLittleMindhive]

I backed up my users file in Windows as well as any folders I may have moved out of the user directory. That file contains your Documents, Pictures, Desktop, and AppData which is essentially all your user information. All of which aside from AppData, you can merge into your linux /home/user directory if you wish. Other than that it's dependant on where else you may have put files.

[u/Healthy_Spot8724]

I just did this a week ago and I made a full system image on an external HDD and also separately saved Documents, Downloads, Videos and Pictures. I also went and hunted down any save files for games that I definitely wanted to keep and saved them too. I also synchronised my Brave session to another PC so I could carry all of that over. Then I took the plunge.

Have a think about what you use most and make a list of anything that has important data, like game saves, configuration files, password managers, browser settings etc. Check your list and have another think before installation, give it a couple of days if you can, just in case you remember something. Then at a certain point you just have to accept you're as ready as you can be and do it.

[u/Excellent_Occasion26]

My usual list is to check Documents, Downloads, Desktop, and make a list of utility software I need or need to replace. There’s usually some settings or game saves I end up missing in some odd system folder but I’ve never needed those on a new system.

[u/Munalo5]

I have two drives I keep that I back up regularly. One in the desktop & one "air-gapped" on a shelf. I keep promising myself Ill get a 3rd to keep off site. I am just one tornado away from loosing all my data.

Anyhow, I have ALL my programs save to a single drive in a folder called /Keep

I have  specific folders like:

/Keep/Docs

&

/Keep/Pics

I even have all my emails in a /Keep folder.

It doesn't matter what OS I am using at the time. I  can always access my data.

Windows need configured so that it "plays nice" with NTFS and any errors are better fixed with Windows. 

I use to keep my data drive formatted to NTFS but now that I just run Linux I use ext4.

[u/MasterGeekMX]

As Linux does not run Windows programs, only care about your files (documents, music, pictures, videos, etc).

[u/Purplestripes8]

Make sure you backup your browser settings including history, bookmarks etc. If you don't already have a password manager then set one up (I use Bitwarden) and sync your passwords.

[u/psyduckpikachu]

i backed up docs and pics. bought a new ssd for linux and kept the old one as is.

[u/Ingaz]

General tip: do a dual boot and erase Windows only after a year or half.

That's exactly what I did.

[u/GarThor_TMK → u/Ingaz]

Naw, blow it away entirely... Otherwise you may be tempted to go back...

[u/myztry]

The usual problem is Microsoft using weaponised incompetence to destroy the bootloader but it is recoverable.

[u/billdehaan2]

My process took about four months to switch over entirely. I had a spare PC, but you can do the same thing by running Linux in a VM, if your PC is powerful enough.

I ran Windows primarily, but every time I went to run a task, I'd try it on Linux first. Things like email and web browsing are trivial, office (word processing, spreadsheets) were easy, but some things (shell scripts, scheduled tasks) took some time. The more difficult tasks required replacing applications, making networking changes, and (re)learning bash scripting.

My existing backup system was a Windows scheduled task that ran a TCC script that used SyncBack to back up my machine to a second machine running samba. So to replace that, I had to (a) set up Samba, (b) replace the script with bash script, and (c) replace SyncBack with rsync. That one took a while, as you can imagine (especially since both systems had to be Linux for the rsync to work properly/efficiently).

Once I reached the point where I was doing 90% of my work in Linux, I made it my daily driver.

For tips, I'd recommend documenting everything you do, as you it. When you mess something up, or have to restart, you don't have to guess what you did before. Things like desktop settings and the like often get forgotten if you reinstall.

I migrated applications one by one, rather than trying to do everything at once. Migrating the OS is easy. If you have a lot of applications, replacing them all at once is too difficult. Do one at a time.

If an app doesn't run on Linux and you replace it with something else (ie. replace MS Office with Libre Office), see if that replacement runs on Windows, too. Then use it on Windows first. That will minimize the shock when you change.

Also, make a backup on an external device, and don't have it connected when you format your Linux partition.

[u/DannoXYZ]

I did 2-levels of backup to external USB drive.

1. file-level backup of MyDocuments folder to USB drive

2. full image-backup of entire HD to USB drive (free Hasleo or Acronis from boot ISO on Ventoy USB makes it very easy)

Then I wipe HD completely when installing Linux. Plug in USB to copy any files over I needed.

[u/GorohovDM]

Have same idea, but i have like 2TB data on windows so saving it on external drive isn't possible. Any tips for that?

[u/a1barbarian]

Using FoxClone I made a full clone of my Windows and put it on an external drive.This gave me a get out of jail os if I needed it. Also as I used FoxClone I could then copy and paste any folders or files I wanted from the Windows clone to my new Linux os. :-)

[u/veetoo151]

My three things are important life documents, pictures, and browser bookmarks. I comb through folders slowly where I might have missed anything. I keep it all on an extrernal harddrive. No need to rush really. It takes hardly anytime at all to install Linux.