Hey guys, I'm installing Zorin OS and I'm at the "Installation Type" screen. I want to dualboot Windows (11) and Zorin 16. The option says "Install Zorin OS Alongside Windows Boot Manager" Is this just a fancy term for Windows? Is this safe?
I believe so.
I just looked it up, it doesn't seem like its Windows. It's the code that gets loaded when you select an operating system I think. I might hold off on Zorin for now because I really don't want to mess up my computer
Yes, it is totally safe.
Yes, it is the bootloader for Windows, located in the EFI partition.
Installing Zorin OS will also install a Zorin Bootloader to the EFI partition alongside of the Windows Bootloader. Bootloaders are essential - in order to boot the OS.
IF you want to play it even safer, you can install Zorin OS on a separate drive. Or use it as a Persistant Use O.S. using Ventoy on a USB stick.
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Thank you so much 
I'm very paranoid about losing all my data lol, so I might go for the seperate drive... i'll think about it.
I'm not sure who is in charge of managing the installation documents, but if you see this, it would really help if you could clarify this for other paranoid people like me 
This makes sense.
Keeping regular backups and using cloud storage when possible are great ways to preserve data. All Data is living on the edge. It's a balancing act of keeping things backed up constantly.
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That's what I do. Separate SSDs with a few Linux distributions. Works great and I have Windows as needed. I do have one machine that I dual boot with Windows 10 and LMDE 5 and will hopefully upgrade that soon to LMDE 6.
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I'll look into backup software, thank you for the tip 
is there anything you recommend?
I don't as there are a lot of factors involved that I know too little about your situation.
You can browse and choose what is best aligned with your situation.
Fortunately, backing up data is often still doable using a USB Stick and about thirty minutes of free time. So even if you are undecided or still searching, you can have Reasonable backups being made.
The more data, the more expense in Cloud Backup. If you have under ten gigs, using sync.com or mega.io may be the way to go.
Some folks email data to themselves, due to the rather large reserves of space available in email. (I do not recommend the email route...)