I've been using Zorin OS on a secondary PC for a few days, and I liked it so much that I'm considering installing it on my main computer. However, I suspect that in the future, I might need to use specialized software that may not be compatible with Linux. After some research, I think a dual boot setup might be the best option, but I have a few concerns.
- I'd like to run Zorin OS from an external drive without involving my internal hard drive. Is that possible?
- If I install Zorin alongside Windows 11, will it affect the allocation of resources like RAM and CPU, potentially slowing down Windows performance when I use it?
- What kind of USB drive would I need to run Zorin OS smoothly, considering the points mentioned above?
Hi, please take a look at my responses to your questions:
- I'd like to run Zorin OS from an external drive without involving my internal hard drive. Is that possible?
It is but you will need to disable Fast Boot in the BIOS before installing and if you can gain access to the computer's innards, disconnect the drive which has Windows on it before proceeding, or if it is an SSD, you will need to run BIOS to check which identifiable connection the hard drive is connected to, then look at the BIOS page that details the connections in the BIOS (for HDD, this will be SATA ports) and change from enable to disable.
The best guide I have found is this one:
https://www.danbp.org/p/en/node/148
If you have installed updates continuously in Windows the other issue you may encounter is this:
which includes a temporary fix procedure until an updated EFI shim is available.
- If I install Zorin alongside Windows 11, will it affect the allocation of resources like RAM and CPU, potentially slowing down Windows performance when I use it?
The only item that tends to affect Windows is Time settings in Date and Time:
- What kind of USB drive would I need to run Zorin OS smoothly, considering the points mentioned above.
Things to consider are the size of storage and what you intend using Zorin or any GNU/Linux for. You can get portable compact usb HDDs, but clearly you will need to undertake research as to which drive offers the fastest transfer rates, together with what USB ports you have on your machine. If you do not intend to have a portable device, then I would choose a powered device such as WD Elements. The guide I posted above talks about formatting the external drive to FAT32 or Ex-FAT but there are limitations on available storage using this file system, so I would advise you use Ext4 for Zorin.
Yes! Infact even better than regular dual booting and is less pain to setup.
Every time you boot you just need to select the hardware device you have your OS installed on.
No. You might want to disable Fast Startup in Windows, which is known to cause issues when dual booting.
If your computer has a USB 3.0 port, I would recommend a USB-3 to SATA Adapter, which can be connected to your SSD.
So just to clarify, I'll have an SSD where I'll install Linux, and I'll adjust the boot order whenever I want to switch between operating systems. For instance, I can leave the SSD at home while I'm using Windows at school. Then, if I want to use Linux, I just need to plug in the SSD, right? In other words, the SSD doesn't need to be connected all the time