Dual boot with 2 Drives

[ellevy12]

Hi all,

so i bought a mini pc (beelink mini s) mainly for children use and i am going to have a 2 SSD there -it comes with 256GB pre installed (and with win11) and i will probably load it with another SSD of 1TB

what is the best scenario to dual boot ?
1- install mint on the small drive next to windows ?
2 - install mint on the bigger drive?

would love to hear / link to install guide .. until now i mainly used mint solely on my laptops.

[MikeNovember]

Hi all,

so i bought a mini pc (beelink mini s) mainly for children use and i am going to have a 2 SSD there -it comes with 256GB pre installed (and with win11) and i will probably load it with another SSD of 1TB

what is the best scenario to dual boot ?
1- install mint on the small drive next to windows ?
2 - install mint on the bigger drive?

would love to hear / link to install guide .. until now i mainly used mint solely on my laptops.

Hi,

Read this tutorial: viewtopic.php?f=42&t=381590

Regards,

MN

[ellevy12]

Thanks
i read it

however in the mini pc i have one m2 SSD (which come pre installed with win11) and i want to add another SSD (but it can only be 2.5" SSD..

so according to the tutorial, i need to wipe windows from the m2 ssd, install linux , and then install windows on the latter 2.5" SSD...

wish there was a better way

[diabolicbg]

This is the entire procedure for people who will face this problem:
- format hard disks
- install Windows in a hard disk /If you want can keep Win11/
- physically disconnect the hard disk with Windows in it
- install Linux Mint in the other disk
- reconnect the hard disk with Windows
Log into BIOS, set the Linux disk as the first boot device and remember the selection. Reboot. When Linux boots, run the command in the terminal: sudo update-grub.
Restart again and you will see the OS selection menu.

[AndyMH]

Thanks
i read it

however in the mini pc i have one m2 SSD (which come pre installed with win11) and i want to add another SSD (but it can only be 2.5" SSD..

so according to the tutorial, i need to wipe windows from the m2 ssd, install linux , and then install windows on the latter 2.5" SSD...

wish there was a better way

No.
Leave win on the M.2 drive and install mint to the SSD when you fit it.

Note diabolicbg's comment:

-physically disconnect the hard disk with Windows in it

is important. If you don't do this the mint installer will put grub (the linux bootloader) in the EFI partition on your win drive. You want grub installed to the drive with mint on it. If physically disconnecting the M.2 drive is difficult there is a software fix.

[ellevy12]

Very well

i will remove (physically remove) the M2 SSD , attach the 2.5" SSD and install linux mint on it, then i will attach back the M2 and do the GRUB update command.

just to understand - this will work with the UEFI ? do i need to change anytihing in the BIOS prior to install ? (fast boot ?)

Log into BIOS, set the Linux disk as the first boot device and remember the selection

what is the meaning of "remember the selection" ? did you mean SAVE or somthing else?

Thanks a lot !

[diabolicbg]

Very well

i will remove (physically remove) the M2 SSD , attach the 2.5" SSD and install linux mint on it, then i will attach back the M2 and do the GRUB update command.

just to understand - this will work with the UEFI ? do i need to change anytihing in the BIOS prior to install ? (fast boot ?)

Log into BIOS, set the Linux disk as the first boot device and remember the selection

what is the meaning of "remember the selection" ? did you mean SAVE or somthing else?

Thanks a lot !

Yes, fast start should be turned off. And yes - I mean Save.
I thought of something else - I don't know if you are aware - if you install LM or another OS on the entire 2 TB disk, it will take up all the space and not allow you to shrink it later. So it's good to allocate some partition around 100 GB for Linux, and divide the rest as you want. It can be on NTFS too. Linux has no problems reading and writing to such a partition, and you can use it for Windows data.

It is also a good option to allocate some space for /home - ext4 and Timeshift - ext4 - around 50-100 GB depending on how many photos you are thinking of saving. Even just 2 are enough - one primary and then for example a daily or weekly.
In case of a problem Timeshift will restore the system to the last saved state when it was running. Missed updates will install in minutes. A /home compartment will keep all your settings when reinstalling Linux.
When installing, select "something else" and create the partitions with Gparted first, then point each to the location you need. The system is installed in /.
Good luck!

[ellevy12]

Thanks

Well, on my laptop i only installed the regular way - so i have only one partition (is that " /" ? ) and that enough by me

- how would you suggest to partition the linux drive exactly ?
- after install is complete , can i change the GRUB options so WIN will be default after few seconds (or first in the menu?) - thats mainly for my children.. i will use the linux

thanks !

[diabolicbg]

Thanks

Well, on my laptop i only installed the regular way - so i have only one partition (is that " /" ? ) and that enough by me

- how would you suggest to partition the linux drive exactly ?
- after install is complete , can i change the GRUB options so WIN will be default after few seconds (or first in the menu?) - thats mainly for my children.. i will use the linux

thanks !

In my case the division is as follows:
- 128GB Windows on SSD1
- 128GB / - root on SSD2
- HDD:
- 75GB /home
- 100 GB Timeshift
- 100GB BackInTime for home backups
- The rest of the disk is NTFS for windows and LM together.

In GRUB it is enough to swap the boot lines so that Windows is first. I've done this once with GRUB customizer, but the general opinion is that this program does more harm than good, and I don't recommend it. You can probably do manual editing, but I can't say for sure on which file and how.