Question AMD Linux/Windows dual boot system

[comdoc]

Converting old Asus X86 Intel CPU 12 Gb DDR3 650W HDD mid tower Win 7 system. New components: Asus TUF Gaming X570 Plus mb, AMD Ryzen 5 3400G CPU, Samsung 1T 970 EVO+ SSD, 16Gb 3200 Corsair DDR4 RAM. System uses include online college courses, video streaming, blogging, a few X86 legacy programs; no gaming nor overclocking. I have downloaded Linux Mint Cinnamon to DVD. Win 7 Pro is very slow to load (8-10 min). Have backed up HDD to external hard drive. Advised to clean install Win 7; I have original CD with product key. And use free AOMEI Backupper clone software to move Windows from old HDD to new SSD (both 1 T). All my connections are Ethernet.

Best to clone old Win OS to SSD first, then clean install Win 7 Pro? Or do clean install of Win 7 to HDD first, then clone to SSD?
Setup dual boot with Linux Mint first or Win 7 first? Partition 500 Gb for each OS?

 

[Grobe]

Always install windows first. For SSD, you can format it in half for each OS.

 

[comdoc]

Thanks. Is it possible to clone Win onto new SSD, then install Linux onto old HDD? That would give me twice as much storage for each OS. But then how would I dual boot?

 

[Grobe]

Thanks. Is it possible to clone Win onto new SSD, then install Linux onto old HDD?

Maybe. If your windows partition is less than 500GB it should work. However - for most cloning programs you have to select a mode that let you clone "whole disk" - and then if the disk total size is bigger than 1GB, that smell trouble - partition cloning only may not take boot sector into consideration.

 

[USAFRet]

Best to clone old Win OS to SSD first, then clean install Win 7 Pro? Or do clean install of Win 7 to HDD first, then clone to SSD?
Setup dual boot with Linux Mint first or Win 7 first? Partition 500 Gb for each OS?

Not sure what you're trying to do with the clone, then a new install.

What do you want the end state to be?
Be as detailed as you can.

 

[comdoc]

Not sure what you're trying to do with the clone, then a new install.

What do you want the end state to be?
Be as detailed as you can.

Windoze on the present HDD is slowwwww to boot: like 8-10 minutes. I was advised that a clean install might help. I want Win 7 to work efficiently (impossible?). Hence to Linux; my friend's Ubuntu system boots in seconds.

New SSD in M-2 slot has multiples faster data transfer than HDD. So it seems Win 7 should boot a LOT faster on new SSD.

I want Linux so I have an alternative to all the strange MS sloppiness, privacy violations, and glitches.

I'm a college student attending online classes. My end goal is a reliable secure reasonably quick fair value computer system. Dual operating systems seems like a way to help achieve that. My system uses beyond college are video streaming (YT, movies) and blogging. I don't play games nor overclock. My Internet speed sucks (Century Link) in this rural location. No other Internet provider available.

 

[USAFRet]

Windows taking 8-10 minutes to boot up is either a faulty drive, or WAY too much junk software.

But anyway....
Still unsure of what you're trying to do with the clone then clean install.
The clean install will wipe out the cloned thing.

One or the other.
But a clone operation won't fix borked up software.


Install Windows in one partition, then install Linux with the rest of the drive.

 

[comdoc]

Maybe. If your windows partition is less than 500GB it should work. However - for most cloning programs you have to select a mode that let you clone "whole disk" - and then if the disk total size is bigger than 1GB, that smell trouble - partition cloning only may not take boot sector into consideration.

Windows partition is less than 500 Gb. Old hard drive and new SSD are both 1 Tb. My plan is to clone the whole disk.

 

[USAFRet]

Please show us a screencap of your Disk Management window.

 

[comdoc]

Sorry I can't get the screenshot to paste here. It says C drive has 623GB free of 931GB. And E drive (external hard drive) the same.

 

[comdoc]

Windows taking 8-10 minutes to boot up is either a faulty drive, or WAY too much junk software.

But anyway....
Still unsure of what you're trying to do with the clone then clean install.
The clean install will wipe out the cloned thing.

One or the other.
But a clone operation won't fix borked up software.


Install Windows in one partition, then install Linux with the rest of the drive.

The hard drive could be faulty, but I checked for bad sectors two different ways, and it shows all sectors are good. I ran Hard Disk Sentinel and Defraggler which took many hours to defrag the HDD. There is a lot of MS software that I need for college courses and no junk software. I recently installed Adobe Creative Cloud for photo management -- but slow boot was happening before that. I use AVAST and Malwarebytes; neither finds anything out of the ordinary.

 

[CAlbertson]

The best way really is not to dual boot. What you will find is you are continuously re-booting and it is very inconvenient

t is best to install one OS, the a vertuml machine like VMware and then the other OS in the virtual maine. Now yu can run both at the same time. Either can be the host or guest. Install the one you use the most as the host. But you have only 4GB RAM. 8 would be better.

Installing Windws in the VM is nice if you can. It is a poor idea for gaming but for every other case its best this way. Then you don't worry about Windows viruses. You can snapshot the Windows VM and then if you get into trouble instantly restore Windows to a known good state.

Virtual machines save you from a lot of re-booting and with 8GB you can run both OSes at the same time with good-enough performance.

 

[comdoc]

The best way really is not to dual boot. What you will find is you are continuously re-booting and it is very inconvenient

t is best to install one OS, the a vertuml machine like VMware and then the other OS in the virtual maine. Now yu can run both at the same time. Either can be the host or guest. Install the one you use the most as the host. But you have only 4GB RAM. 8 would be better.

Installing Windws in the VM is nice if you can. It is a poor idea for gaming but for every other case its best this way. Then you don't worry about Windows viruses. You can snapshot the Windows VM and then if you get into trouble instantly restore Windows to a known good state.

Virtual machines save you from a lot of re-booting and with 8GB you can run both OSes at the same time with good-enough performance.

I have 16 Gb of RAM. Yes I was told dual boot on the same drive has too many problems. I want to use Linux for everything I can, but some of my college programs only run in Windows. VMware does not run on Win 7. I choose not to use Win 10.