The Linux.uk Community Forum

Currently dual booting W8 pro with Mint 19.1 is it worth getting a 2nd hard drive( cheap enough) and loading the OS separately?

I would, if one becomes corrupt it doesn't (necessarily) take the other with it.

I though that was one of the reasons but are there any other benefits.Also would it be quicker to copy my files across and reinstall Mint or could I clone my set up as whole and put it on new drive?

Yep you can clone from one drive to another (as long as the recipient drive is the same size or larger).

Thanks mark

Am I right in thinking that any Windows files i have copied/ moved to Mint from the mounted Windows (device) will no longer be usable once the OS's are moved to separate drives?

Not sure what you mean ?

'files' as in docs/pics/etc ? .. they should be fine.

Sorry Mark try and make it clearer.When I first installed Mint as a duel boot in case the windows side became corrupted I copied my docs,pics music  to Mint from the Windows side.So once Mint is on it's own drive obviously music/ pics will work but how about the other windows created docs.?

Well I can't say for sure because I don't know what created the files, but it's pretty likely they'll open in something Linux .. I mean things that opened in Microsoft Office (rtf/doc/docx/xls/xlsx/etc.) should open in LibreOffice, etc.

There's nearly always a Linux solution somewhere

Cheers Mark....