I want to make the switch but I want to test run first before fully committing. My PC has an M.2 SSD. I was thinking I could buy another one, swap them out and put Linux on that. In an emergency, I can swap the SSD back. Does this seem like a viable/sensible path toward Linux? I don’t really have too many files on my PC that I care about. I don’t want to dual boot. I did that on a laptop back in the day and it was annoying.
Does your pc’s mobo have 2 m.2 slots? If so, that’s a great solution. If you do decide to stick with linux, that gives you two hdds. If not, you might want to consider buying a m.2 ssd to usb enclosure too. You can use it to transfer files you want to keep or for ventoy or backups.
Good point that I didn’t consider. I actually don’t know if I have 2 slots. I just took a peek in the glass door and I can’t see well enough without unplugging a bunch. Either way, I’m buying another SSD so I guess I’ll make that call when I open my case to put it in.
If you know the model of your motherboard, you could look up the user manual. Then you don’t need to open it to see if you have two slots. Also, I don’t know your setup. If you have a slot for a physically bigger hard drive, then it might be a good idea to get a bigger storage drive as your second drive. If you like Linux, then reinstall it to your main drive and keep the second drive as storage drive.
If you only have one slot, you can always put the old drive in a USB4 enclosure and turn it into a really fast flash drive.
This is what I did and I absolutely love the thing! It’s so much faster than any other flash drive for file transfers. I think it’s a USB 3.1 Gen 2/SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps enclosure