Author Topic: Question about OSes: when it comes to computers, I have no idea what to do  (Read 9162 times)

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Offline Deep Toaster

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So I've decided that I have to try running Ubuntu off of a flash drive (I'm getting tired of having Vista all the time :P). But before I do that, I have to make sure of something, and seeing that many people here use Linux (especially after seeing the Post Your Desktop thread), I decided to ask about it here: If I were to boot Linux from my thumb drive, would it affect my computer's drives in any way (in other words, the next time I turn on the computer, can it boot Windows normally with no change to it)? (Sorry if this seems like an obvious question, but I have no idea with computers :-[)




Offline calcdude84se

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It's fine to ask, and I've known others to worry about it. If you boot off a flash drive (thumb drive, w/e you call it), it should not modify your hard disk unless you write to it on purpose.
If you doubt Linux's ability to correctly write to NTFS (the file system Windows uses, and this can be a concern), just don't write to it, and you might want to remount those partitions as read-only, if you mount them at all.
Edit: Error 404, post not found :P
« Last Edit: July 04, 2010, 10:30:49 am by calcdude84se »
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Offline Deep Toaster

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It's fine to ask, and I've known others to worry about it. If you boot off a flash drive (thumb drive, w/e you call it), it should not modify your hard disk unless you write to it on purpose.
Oh, okay, thanks.

If you doubt Linux's ability to correctly write to NTFS (the file system Windows uses, and this can be a concern), just don't write to it, and you might want to remount those partitions as read-only, if you mount them at all.
Remounting partitions? What? :-\ What partitions?

Edit: Error 404, post not found :P
Weird, the link worked for me.




Offline calcdude84se

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Remounting partitions? What? :-\ What partitions?
Partitions contain file systems, sorry for not explaining. If you're like most people, your computer has one partition (or only one that you know of), which contains your "C:" drive. (or whatever you labeled it)
Mounting is a process which allows you to read and write files on a partition. A partition has to be mounted to be accessed. Since most OS's run from flash drives will automatically mount all partitions for reading and writing, I'm suggesting you remount it as read-only if you are afraid to write to it, and don't want anything written automatically.

Weird, the link worked for me.
I was celebrating my 404th post :P
"People think computers will keep them from making mistakes. They're wrong. With computers you make mistakes faster."
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Spoiler For "PartesOS links":
I'll put it online when it does something.

Offline Silver Shadow

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If you don't want to partition your hard drive and want to be able to install/uninstall your Linux OS like any other Windows program, here's a nifty little thing:

http://wubi-installer.org/

Note that it's only for Ubuntu.
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Offline Deep Toaster

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Remounting partitions? What? :-\ What partitions?
Partitions contain file systems, sorry for not explaining. If you're like most people, your computer has one partition (or only one that you know of), which contains your "C:" drive. (or whatever you labeled it)
Mounting is a process which allows you to read and write files on a partition. A partition has to be mounted to be accessed. Since most OS's run from flash drives will automatically mount all partitions for reading and writing, I'm suggesting you remount it as read-only if you are afraid to write to it, and don't want anything written automatically.
Oh, I see.

Weird, the link worked for me.
I was celebrating my 404th post :P
Ha, didn't see that. 222th post!

If you don't want to partition your hard drive and want to be able to install/uninstall your Linux OS like any other Windows program, here's a nifty little thing:

http://wubi-installer.org/

Note that it's only for Ubuntu.

Ooh, that seems useful. Thanks.