Preparing Windows PCs
Before diving in and installing Ubuntu alongside Windows, take the time to make sure your PC is ready to accommodate a dual-boot system.
N ot only is it technically possible to run Ubuntu (or any other Linux distro) alongside Windows, it’s also relatively painless. That said, you should still look to take suitable precautions and prepare your system for life as a dual-boot machine.
Let’s start with the obvious fail-safe procedure: take a full system backup. This ensures that in the worst-case scenario, you can simply restore this backup and start again, no damage done. The best tool for the job is Hasleo Backup Suite Free (www.easyuefi.com). Choose Backup > System Backup to back up all the partitions required to restore Windows to a working state, and take the time to click Backup Options > Advanced > Check The Integrity Of The Backup Image Files On Completion to verify the backup. Once done, visit the Tools section and click Emergency Disk to create emergency boot media (DVD or USB flash drive).
With your backup in place, you can start prepping your system. First, where do you plan to install Linux? On the same hard drive as Windows or another hard drive? The latter is preferable – you can buy an internal 480GB SSD for around £30. Power down your PC, take precautions against static, and open the case to verify there’s a 2.5 or 3.5-inch drive bay free, plus spare SATA power cable on the PSU and a free SATA slot on the motherboard. You also need a SATA data cable.