Dual boot with home on a external HDD

[krassegrand2]

Hello!
My first post here.
I used to use the Swedish Ubuntu Forum but is seems to be down.
I have just bought a HP Pavilion Gaming Desktop TG01 / GTX 1650 / Ryzen 3 4300G / 8GB / 512GB NVMe with Windows 11.
I would like to install Ubuntu, dual boot and thinking about to have the Home or the entire Ubuntu on a different hard drive.
Is that a stupid idea?
I have earlier (a long time ago) installed a dual boot (Windows and Ubuntu) with separate home but still would like a detailed instruktion.

Have a nice evening guys,

Jörgen

[oldfred]

I have both.
But always keep /home (only) in / (root) so user settings are on fastest drive and always available.
I do keep a large data partition where main working install of Kubuntu is on NVMe drive.

But I also have two external SSDs. I updated SSD in desktop to NVMe drive and moved M.2 SSD drive to USB adapter. That has worked so well I bought another NVMe drive & USB adapter, and now do not plan on more USB flash drives as I have a lot already, larger ones with full install & data.
Full installs on external drives with copies of data in separate data partitions.

I have used UEFI install of Kubuntu with Dell laptop, my 2017 desktop build, and even with my 2006 BIOS only laptop. I put BIOS boot stanza on old laptop to directly boot external install.

Kubuntu is a bit lighter weight than standard gnome based Ubuntu, so I find it works a bit better. But user choice of gui is what Linux is about.

External drive install details depend on version.
Older versions used Ubiquity installer that only installs grub to first drive's ESP, unless you do one of many work arounds.
New versions of Ubuntu use Subiquity installer that gives choice.
Kubuntu used Ubiquity until 24.04 and now uses Calamares installer which works correctly. Already installs to second internal drive & external SSD.

https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread....9#post14048909 &
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2315714
Splitting home directory discussion and details:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1811198 &
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1901437
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...hlight=%2Fdata
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread....3#post14149243
Label=WD1 /d/WD1 ext4 defaults,nofail,nodev,nosuid,noexec 0 2

[krassegrand2]

I have a Ubuntu image on my old laptop and a 8Gb USB that was read protected and I tried to clear it with Gparted but no luck so I tried the advise on the link.

https://www.pcforalla.se/article/171...sb-minnen.html

It worked fine to assign but then I had a USB that eater Ubuntu or Windows can detect.

I might back when I have bought a new USB.

[grahammechanical]

If you do decide to dual boot Windows and Ubuntu on the same drive remember to use Windows tools to work on Windows file systems/partitions. Defrag Windows before and after expanding/shrinking/moving Windows partitions. Create unallocated space. Make sure Windows still loads. You may need to use a Windows rescue disk.

Use Linux tools to create Linux (EXT4) partitions. The Try Ubuntu session has GParted that will create/resize Linux partitions. You can select the Install Alongside options if you want. I have not ever tried that with a dual boot with Windows. So, I cannot predict the results.

I would suggest that installing on a separate drive is preferable. Disable or disconnect the Windows drive.

Regards

[krassegrand2]

Sounds resonable!
I am on hold now until I get a new USB stick.

[krassegrand2]

Now I have bootable stick and have tried it on the new used desktop.
Now I need to know exactly how to set up the installation to get a separate home and a dual boot with the Windows 11 that is already on the desktop.
I have in the past made a dual boot anda a separate home but I did not get it all right. the home partition stayed empty but the partition with the installation got full after a while.

Any step by step instructions that You can recommend?

[psychohermit]

I like to keep /home on a separate partition. That way it can survive a reinstall and 90% of your customization is left intact.

--glenn

[krassegrand2]

Does that mean that I choose "something else" during the install?
I think I need some more help.

[tea for one]

I would like to install Ubuntu, dual boot and thinking about to have the Home or the entire Ubuntu on a different hard drive.
Is that a stupid idea?

No, not a stupid idea.
If you are new to using Ubuntu on a separate disk, it's easier to allow the installer to automatically create the necessary partitions i.e. entire Ubuntu.

Disable or disconnect the Windows drive

Kindly confirm that you can follow this excellent suggestion?
It will prevent any untoward catastrophe during installation

[krassegrand2]

Kindly confirm that you can follow this excellent suggestion?
It will prevent any untoward catastrophe during installation

That is a good idea, maybe I should get another hard drive before I install?
On the other hand, I don't have any important personal info on the Windows partition.

One question, If I disconnect the Windows drive while installing Ubuntu, do I still get a GRUB?