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I thought I would ask this question before doing what I am about to try. I am very green as far as Linux systems are concerned.

Current Setup I have two harddrives (an SDD and a HDD). The SDD has Windows installed and the HDD contains my entire Ubuntu installation. Furthermore the HDD contains some shared data which I already backed up. The system is set up as an EFI dual boot where the bootloader prompts me to select the system I want to start.

My Question Now I want to remove the HDD entirely and replace it with another drive. I want to install Ubuntu on the new harddrive again and keep a dual boot setup. My questions are:

  1. Do I have to do something to the bootloader before I take out the old HDD? If so what.
  2. What do I have to do to install my dual boot setup as before? Will the Ubuntu installer just work fine or will it get confused by the existing bootloader?

Edit And where is the bootloader located? How can i find that out?

geo
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2 Answers2

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Actually apart from it,you didn't need to worry about your bootloader.

------- Since you are dual-booting, the boot-loader should go on /dev/sda itself. Yes, NOT /dev/sda1 or /dev/sda2, or any other partition, but on the hard drive itself..------------

As you mentioned,you had installed your windows in SSD & ubuntu in HDD, and now you want to remove/change HDD.

It is more better and convinient ,if you install new ubuntu in you SSD or say in local disk C and leave rest of HDD's or local disk D/E etc for saving your backups and for other personal files/data. because SSD's are fastest drive for booting.

I assumed that during installation, you created your root & home directory for ubuntu is in the SSD because you installed UBUNTU in it .obviously.

so now,

  • you can dual boot into your SSD both windows & SSD as well.

  • you can also remove HDD without hesitation and freshly install new UBUNTU on new HDD

just stick bootable usb and follow the instruction wherever you want to install UBUNTU

and for more details how to install/reinstall ubuntu as a dual-boot see this answer.

Arbaz
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Installing Ubuntu on Different drive than Windows 10

GRUB will only boot Windows and Linux if they are installed in the same Legacy/UEFI mode

  • Determine Windows 10 boot mode. Type System Information in Windows Start panel. Under "BIOS Mode" it will say if Windows is Legacy or UEFI.

  • Unplug the Windows SSD.

  • Boot a Ubuntu 20.04 Live USB in the same mode as Windows boot mode. A USB made with Rufus MBR partition scheme option will boot either way. If Windows is UEFI use Rufus GPT scheme.

  • Install Ubuntu to it's own SSD using the "Something else" option.

  • if asked, create a 500MB EFI system partition on the Ubuntu SSD.

  • Select the Ubuntu SSD for bootloader installation.

  • Continue installation as directed.

  • When complete, Plug in the Windows SSD. Set the New Ubuntu SSD as first hard drive, run sudo update-grub to ensure all bootable drives are on the boot menu.

C.S.Cameron
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