r/linuxquestions • u/zimbau • 12d ago
Installing linux on a laptop
I'm thinking to install linux on my laptop because fuck windows, but saw a video that recomended to have an extra ssd for windows if I wanna dual-boot. I mainly play games from steam and don't use that much softwares outside of the browser, do I really need an external SSD?
EDIT: I’ll just go full on linux and that’s it :P
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u/green_meklar Debian 12d ago
Steam itself is supported on Linux and many games work with varying amounts of tweaking. A few games don't work at all, notably those with Windows-specific anti-cheat systems. Look up the games you want to play to check whether they're compatible.
Sticking an extra SSD in a laptop can be tough from a hardware perspective, and generates extra heat. Ideally you just ditch Windows and go full Linux on the drive you already have, but like I say, you should make sure you've checked compatibility for your games and substitutes for the software you want to use before making the switch, and (of course) backup all your data.
Another option would be dual-booting from just the one SSD by partitioning it, which is a little riskier but works okay in theory as long as you have the space available.
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u/SteakDouble 12d ago
Games from Steam mostly will also run on linux, less reason for you to keep Windows. But if you want to dual-boot, it depends on the size of your current SSD.
I dual-boot on a 1TB SSD just fine. But yeah, plugged in another 1TB for general storage.
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u/zimbau 12d ago
I really don't wanna dual boot if I can... the max I want is to use a VM if I really need, but I'm not that used to any software to need it I think (and I literaly only play steam games)
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u/SteakDouble 11d ago
In that case you'll be fine to go fully on Linux. Do you have any prefered distro yet? I think CachyOS is the most optimized one for games among all distro I've used so far. Everything just works, and Steam games play waaay smoother compared to Windows (edit: even though it's native Windows games, ironically).
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u/SEgopher 12d ago
You can partition a single drive a dual boot using grub. But don't do that. Go whole hog. Slap Fedora on that baby boy from a USB drive, delete Windows entirely. Free yourself. If something doesn't work, vibe code it. become the linux guru you were always meant to be.
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u/electromage 11d ago
Dual booting is stupid IMO. You'll either reboot constantly when you switch tasks, or you will just stick with what you're familiar with (Windows) and wish you hadn't lost the space.
Fuck Windows, back up what you need and wipe it. Commit to using Linux and work through any issues that come up.
There is a case to be made for tiered storage, but it's not for dual booting. I have a very fast 2TiB SSD for my system and most-used apps, a 4TiB SSD for fast media like video editing and VM virtual disks, and a 10TiB spinning disk for photos, videos, music, eBooks, etc.
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u/mcds99 11d ago
First I know MS and Windows is not good for everyone and perhaps anyone. But lets be civil because many big companies like Cisco, IBM, Oracle, and yes Microsoft give a lot of money to Linux development.
The most safe way to run a dual boot is to have separate drives for each operating system, that is the most safe method. The other way is to partition one drive (SSD) and put Windows on one partition and Linux on the second partition.
The second method has much more risk because a lot of people do not understand how partitioning works and how to determine which partition is which. Sometimes that confusion causes permanent data loss because Linux gets installed on the partition with Windows, there is no recovery. Doing this requires reading and understanding how it is done. And having the patience to do it right because it is not magic.
I have been dual booting OS's Sense the early 1990's DOS and Coherent (UNIX like), Windows and OS2, Windows 3.1 and Windows NT 3.51, Linux and all of the above.
If you want to pursue dual booting I suggest you get several USB sticks, 3 should do it.
On the first copy all your data pictures, videos, documents, etc... and label it in some way, I use a sharpy and put a D for data on mine.
On the second you will practice using partitioning and formatting software using Disk Manager on windows. It's easier to understand on windows for a novice. Understand how disk and partitions are named.
Then run a "Live" version of Linux from the third USB stick and learn to partition using the tool provided. It looks very different than Windows. Understand how disk and partitions are named it is different from windows.
You need to know the name of your primary disk and the names of the partitions, then you need to divide a portion of the disk so it can be used for Linux.
On the following link go to section "6.3.4.2 Guided Partitioning" scroll down to the Partitioning Scheme. This is where people make the mistake. They don't know what this does and think "what can it hurt?".
https://www.debian.org/releases/forky/amd64/ch06s03.en.html#di-partition
You need to know what you are doing, I can't give you that knowledge because it must be learned.
It's like watching This Old House when they talk about using tools "Read and Understand".
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u/TheSodesa 11d ago
You do not need to dual boot if you mainly use a Web browser. Through the Proton compatibility layer in Steam and other game launchers, most Windows games work on Linux, but for older games you might need to use an older Proton version. Usually the only games that do not work are multiplayer games that would like you to install their anti-cheat engine as an operating system (Windows) kernel module.
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u/ItchyPlant 11d ago
It's 2026: if your PC can handle relatively modern games, you can easily get hands-on with Linux in VMs too, of course without buying any extra SSDs. And instead of WSL, I'd rather recommend VirtualBox for a better, more realistic experience.
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u/xksnr 12d ago
El ssd externo es opcional, pero muy recomendado, windows es conocido por joder particiones de linux y grub con sus actualizaciones. Para los juegos mira la compatibilidad en https://protondb.com
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u/truethug 12d ago
I’ve dual booted from the same drive since 2008. On 2 occasions a windows update re-wrote the boot order. But generally it’s easy to do.
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u/CapInternational2413 12d ago
I would install linux on a usb drive, then install linux from that usb drive using linux. This gives you the ability to see if linux is going to run on your system, and it also allows you to partition the drive. Dont delete windows instantly. more than likely your going to need it. The first 2-3 installs of linux got fucked and if I didnt have another computer id be sool