0

I partitioned my C drive in windows 10 to create 30 GB of unallocated space and then installed Linux on it. Then I read somewhere that it is not good practice to install linux on C drive where you have all your windows OS files. So now I want to know whether I can move this Linux partition from C drive to another partition F drive which is of 300 GB. I don't have any experience with this stuff, please help.

2
  • 2
    You mean just change the letter? Linux doesn't care about what letter Windows calls a partition. Or do you mean move the partition from the front to the back? As long as Windows & Linux run ok then it doesn't really matter where they're at, does it?
    – Xen2050
    Oct 2, 2018 at 4:53
  • Please edit the question and post a picture (or link) that shows your partition layout; something like this. Oct 2, 2018 at 5:07

2 Answers 2

1

The only problem I've ever had with this type of config is when grub conflicts with the BIOS and you can't boot into windows any more. I don't see any problem with your setup if it's working. Just be careful about updating BIOS or grub - I believe one can overwrite the other.

However. If you do want to do move the partition to another disk, I'd recommend using either Aomei or Easus partition assistant. Both are free and easy to use, simple select a disk or partition and clone it to any valid target of your choice. Try Aomei first, it's UI is better.

And you MUST backup before doing anything! Data does get corrupted, so be careful especially if you are unfamiliar with these tools. Good luck.

2
  • 1
    You're confusing the BIOS with the Windows bootloader (BOOTMGR or NTLDR). Grub cannot possibly overwrite, or conflict with, the BIOS. Oct 2, 2018 at 8:09
  • Ugh. You're right - I wasn't thinking, sorry. I'll edit
    – AutoBaker
    Oct 8, 2018 at 13:40
1

First of all, 'C:' is just your Windows partition, not the whole drive. If you moved Linux to the other drive, it wouldn't be 'F:' anymore either. Physical drives do not have drive letters in Windows – only partitions i.e. logical volumes do.

So is it bad to have Windows and Linux on the same physical disk, on different partitions? No. There's no difference between having them on one disk or separate.

Sure, the act of installing both onto the same disk might cause you troubles on traditional BIOS systems (i.e. CSM boot mode) because the new system's bootloader will overwrite the old one's... but if you've already gone through doing that and installed everything properly, then it doesn't matter anymore. (UEFI systems have it better – they can hold multiple boot entries by design.)

If you're running out of space on disk 1, then you could split up the Linux filesystem, leaving the / partition where it is on disk 1, but creating a dedicated /home partition on disk 2.

If you want to move the whole '/' Linux partition:

  1. Create the new partition, format it (mkfs.ext4), and mount it temporarily on /new.
  2. Copy all the files to the new partition, e.g. using rsync with a sprinkle of "preserve everything" options:

    # rsync -PvhaxHAX / /new/
    
  3. Run the rsync command a second time, to pick up changes that might have happened meanwhile.

  4. Reconfigure the bootloader, which requires these instructions:

    # for dir in /dev /dev/pts /proc /sys /run; do mount --bind $dir /new/$dir; done
    # chroot /mnt grub-install /dev/sd###
    # chroot /mnt grub-mkconfig > /mnt/boot/grub/grub.cfg
    

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .