Linux next to Windows just in case

Ispheria

Hey guys, so I recently (last night) had my computer completely just screw me over, and I had to wipe it clean (I think reset is the actual term) so I ended up losing all my work for 3 of classes, which sucks cause I have 3 projects due next week.

So now I'm all paranoid about losing my data and am backing it up in every way I can, but just to be safe, I was considering installing Linux next to Windows on my laptop. The only time I'm planning on using it is if something wrong happens to Windows again, so I can access my files.

Problem is, I don't actually know if this will work, and I don't know how to do it, so I was wondering if anyone could tell me if this is a viable option/how to do it?

Thanks in advance for any help.

DonEngland

Get a live linux system, like slax, and try to recover your files. I keep mine on a thumb drive, and have used it to recover files when necessary. You may need to modify the bios and change the boot order.

Google is your friend, good luck.

NegevPro

It's a pretty viable setup, I used to run a linux and windows dualboot machine for a few years. Linux is a lot more stable than Windows and so if your Windows installation gets corrupted, you can still access your files from Linux and back them up.

If you don't want to install both operating systems together, you can actually just put a linux distribution on a USB drive and boot off of USB to recover your files. I'd suggest Ubuntu since it's pretty user friendly.

If you want to actually install both operating systems however, the process is pretty simple. Install Windows first and when partitioning your hard drive, just leave some "unallocated space" for the Linux installation, once Windows is installed, just install Linux over the remaining space. You should google how to make a bootable linux usb drive, there are tons of step by step tutorials out there.

Good luck!

SnowInChina

why not just have an extrem hdd which does an autobackup daily ?
you could also plg in your hdd into another pc and salvage the data

JohnnyRaptor

Yeah, dont erase your harddrive just yet. Depending on your computer knowledge, you can still recover your data even from a physically damaged harddrive. And in case of lack of computer knowledge, If your at some university or college that has an IT manager, you could always ask him for some assistance, im sure he will have a few data recovery tools in case what has been suggested above doesnt work for you.

iconoplast

You can run Linux off of a DVD or thumb drive (as some mentioned), which helps if Windows does bad things. It's what I use in that sort of situation. If you only want it as a backup plan, running it off of something portable when it's needed would make more sense than installing it. I'll also second the Ubuntu suggestion, it's the easiest to work with for someone new to Linux. If you want in-person help, you can also just ask around at a local university if there is one -- students will often do work like this for fairly cheap (I know I did).

beefaroni

SnowInChina wrote: »

why not just have an extrem hdd which does an autobackup daily ?
you could also plg in your hdd into another pc and salvage the data

Yea. Can we have some details on what's actually wrong with the HD?

If your Windows install got corrupted or something or another part on your computer broke, the safest bet is to buy a new HD (or just an old one if you have an extra) and re-install windows on that and have the second one as just another disk. If it's fine you'll be able to read/backup all the data that way.

If the hard drive actually died. Yikes. If there's nothing too important on there you could just accept that you lost some work, make better stuff , and setup an auto backup either throuhg a service like Mozy (current project) or an external.

Lamont

I would have projects on external/second drive. Run backups and have a boot USB drive ready with recovery software if needed. Current project should backup off-site daily. Linux works well and has tons of disk recovery software as well. USB thumb drives are cheap.

Ispheria

beefaroni wrote: »

Yea. Can we have some details on what's actually wrong with the HD?

If your Windows install got corrupted or something or another part on your computer broke, the safest bet is to buy a new HD (or just an old one if you have an extra) and re-install windows on that and have the second one as just another disk. If it's fine you'll be able to read/backup all the data that way.

If the hard drive actually died. Yikes. If there's nothing too important on there you could just accept that you lost some work, make better stuff , and setup an auto backup either throuhg a service like Mozy (current project) or an external.

I already wiped my computer clean, I really just wanted to know if that was a viable option, and to get pointed in the right direction. I wasn't backing up my data before, which was stupid of me, but now it's like, my number one priority (aside ofc from making good art) and I wanted to make sure I took advantage of every possible option.

Thanks for the help guys, guess I'll start looking into Ubuntu.

[Deleted User]

I use cloud services to bake up my data. 25GB OneDrive + 100GB Copy + 2GB DropBox. Started using them around 3 years ago when i lost all my scripts by accident. I bake finisshed models, textures, rigs etc + all program settings are stored there too. Anything that is not cache is backed there. Problem solved.

elGuapo

After one hhd failure, my philosophy has always been to put windows on its own drive (small hhd or ssd), and all my files on a different drive. That way you don't have to worry about windows getting corrupted, or doing a re-install.

EarthQuake

The real issue here is data loss, what OS you have is not really relevant nor is installing two OSes any sort of realistic solution. As has been mentioned a bunch, frequent backup is the only real option.

Your house could flood
your house could burn down
your house could get swept away in a tornado/hurricane etc
someone could steal your computer
your drive could fail and become unrecoverable
etc

The only solution to the above problems is frequent, offsite backup.

I back up locally to a NAS, and offsite with google drive ($10/month for 1TB).

Installing linux will do nothing other than give you a false sense of security.

Also, splitting up OS/content to two different drives, really this doesn't do you much good. What if your content drive fails completely? That's all your work gone. Again backup is the only actual solution.

beefaroni

EarthQuake wrote: »

I back up locally to a NAS, and offsite with google drive ($10/month for 1TB).

Is there a way to set up Google Drive so that it backs up selected folders on your computer? Or how do you go about backing up with it? I've been using Mozy but if there's a good way to do it with GDrive I wouldn't mind switching for a lot more space.

EarthQuake

beefaroni wrote: »

Is there a way to set up Google Drive so that it backs up selected folders on your computer? Or how do you go about backing up with it? I've been using Mozy but if there's a good way to do it with GDrive I wouldn't mind switching for a lot more space.

I don't think there is, but there might be some third party tools to do it. Its something I've been meaning to look into, atm I'm manually archiving a lot of my stuff which isn't ideal.