I want to make the switch but I want to test run first before fully committing. My PC has an M.2 SSD. I was thinking I could buy another one, swap them out and put Linux on that. In an emergency, I can swap the SSD back. Does this seem like a viable/sensible path toward Linux? I don’t really have too many files on my PC that I care about. I don’t want to dual boot. I did that on a laptop back in the day and it was annoying.
But keep in mind slower read performance will make the system slower. The SSD will fly by comparison. Don’t let a flash drive fool you into thinking Linux is slow.
Yeah I thought about booting from a flash drive as a test run option but I figured that would not be a very accurate way of gauging what the experience is like. Also, it would keep me from “settling in” with Linux because I wouldn’t want files and stuff on a flash drive, which would make me keep my PC at arms length.
Good thinking. Let us know how it turns out with a new post.
On a high quality flash drive, it will be decent. or, you can do the cheaper, more convenient way by installing Oracle’s free VirtualBox program and testing a bunch of distros. Be sure to try out as much of the software that a distro comes with as you can even if you dislike the distro itself. And, makes notes of the themes you like. I’d think an external drive might be a convenient option that can be used at work, at home, while visting your family in Kentucky…But, VMs are the cheapest and there is even software to clone a VM into an iso after you’ve customized it how you want it, then load the .iso onto a driveshaft to permanently install on “bare metal”.
I used a usb-c external SSD drive. Worked like a charm and I even could run starcitizen from that with no remarkable performance drop. Once I was settled with linux I just installed the external SSD internally.