I have been using Manjaro for a couple of months and one of them almost completly as my main OS for working and with this good experience I am thinking on adapting completly my PC to just use Linux as normal and Windows just for gaming.
My PC has 2 drives, one ssd and one HDD that I use to store data. I have windows on the ssd and Linux on an external ssd, and I have used the HDD as a common Drive.
I would like to continue fully switching to Linux and I would like to know if I can prevent Windows from accessing that HDD and what should I have in mind for doing so? The HDD is NTFS format, and obviously I would like it to set it to a more appropiate format for linux, but there is data there that I would like to keep. I may pay google drive to use it as back-up of such data (they are all files not apps)
If the volume is formatted with a native Linux filesystem, Windows won’t recognise it in any case, so it should be a non-issue.
Something I’d usually suggest when multibooting is to make sure the Windows volume isn’t mounted automatically in Linux. This will help protect the Windows system from accidental damage while in Linux.
You should be able to set it to not mount using /etc/fstab; or, using the gnome-disk-tool (Disks) is another method.
I suggest that Linux would be better on an internal (non-USB) disk, if it’s practical. 1TB and 500GB SSDs are still reasonably affordable in comparison to most.
Then you could either use the external as storage, or continue using the HDD for the purpose.
Naturally, this might require you to create a fresh installation of Manjaro; you could also consider it an opportunity to choose different install options, now that you’ve learned so much.
Of course, if you really want to use Manjaro exclusively, much of this is probably moot.
I have automount disabled on linux, guess it is by default since I didnt changed it.
I have enjoyed Manjaro Plasma so far.
Yes, but suddenly all my HDDs have died.
I know, and thats why I want to de google and be more privacy healthy, not only for me, but because I think privacy should be a universal right, whether you have something to hide or not. But it is something I am starting to learn how to do it and I still rely on google for many things.
Despite that, what I will back up is all the university books and some repos that I have on github, so I don’t think there is much there they don’t know already and almost everything there is something I wouldn’t mind sharing to everyone (I would need to check for sensitive data).
Thanks for the replys.
Since it is around 200Gb and my Linux drive is 1TB maybe I temporarly copy it to the linux drive. But I still would like to have some cloud access to that data.
It’s always a good idea to have backups of your data, preferably including at least one off-site, but the issue with the “Cloud” is that it is on someone else’s hard drive.
What I usually suggest is not to have a Windows system partition mounted in Linux at all. Only mount a secondary partition or an external USB, if needed.
What specifically do you mean by… died?
I assume they use NTFS…
Are they simply not mounting, or are they confirmed to be trashed? It’s unlikely that many disks will suddenly die in unison.
Linux will not automount anything by default, especially not ntfs. Unless it is some stupid Plasma “feature”.
Actually with the current defaults (a controversial change several months ago), manjaro will even ask for root password before mounting windows. It can be cured but i left it that way exactly as kind of confirmation against accedental click.
Linux will only mount designated volumes by default. / (root), /home (if separate), and other volumes if listed in /etc/fstab. Additional volumes could be added manually, if needed. Only these would be automatically mounted.
The Windows system volume (C:) should never be set to mount automatically (in Linux) in a multiboot environment as it risks the possibility af accidental damage to the Windows system.
An example is when a user decides it’s a wonderful idea to have the Windows system volume mount automatically so that they may access files in their Windows Users directories. This is not a wise choice.
Better, is to create a secondary NTFS partition for that or use removable USB media (for brevity, I will not argue the merits of NTFS vs EXFAT here).
Better still (my opinion only) is to use network attached storage (NAS), as the underlying filesystem is of less importance; user data is accessible by most operating systems via network.
I mounted it by misclick, if you use the password to mount another drive and quickly mount the windows drive it will not ask the password again, Though I think it is a good idea not to mix windows and Linux.
Something interesting there is that there are folders that you can’t access on windows but I could from Linux where I could see the content, some bings named folders and advertisement, so probably they have there the part of the spyware and ads Id.
I use the user password, but i am the admin user. I have different passwords for admin and root.
Now that you point it that way, somehting came to my mind that I didn’t consider it even an option. It is that they may change your files, probably with some tracking and monitor stuff, but still it is really bad that they change your files without your permission.
If this is true, the hash should be different the uploaded from the downloaded file.
Yes, there is a timeout of sorts before one is required to enter a password again, just as there is when using the terminal.
Generally not, unless the consequences are fully understood, and one knows what they are doing. Experience has shown that this combination is rare among newer users; especially those who have only ever used Windows.
This is because Windows permissions are not recognised on Linux; also, the system for hidden directories is different. Directories that Microsoft chooses to hide from the user (by default) in Windows don’t suffer that restriction in Linux.
Don’t be too quick to judge Windows for that, though, as virtually every OS hides directories from the user, and for legitimate reasons. In Manjaro Ctrl+h will toggle the hidden status; in Windows, the toggle is traditionally more inconvenient via the GUI.
The most common reason for differing checksums is that a file was damaged in transit; while downloading. This occurs less with modern technology, but it still happens.
I know about the hidden files and folders, by permission I meant that when I click on that folder I am prompted to admin permissions to access the folder, if I give it to it, it says I have not permission to access that file.
This also happen if I try to get the sha256 of minecraft launcher through powershell and I get the error “permit denied”. I don’t remeber trying it with admin privileges.
I thought that was the reason.
I just watched the files.
My question was regarding to the “cloud” editing your files, rather than transit.
There are very few files (some logs, some things in ram or kernel, part of the boot) that are additionally made immutable or read only or unreadable also for root. Of course it can be changed with chmod/chattr, but it is a protection against accidental damage. There is probably a good reason for that
I don’t know anything about gaming on Windows, but from my own 6 years of experience, working on Manjaro (on XFE in my case) I can do all I need.
So I congratulate your educated decision and especially that you’ve tried it out first.
I would suggest the following:
a) Check your HDD S.M.A.R.T. data to ensure the drive is still healthy.
b) Backup all your personal files from Windows “My Documents” to the external SSD.
c) Copy all files from the HDD to the external SSD so that you can format the HDD with e.g. ext4, so that you can continue using it for your personal data.
Or, especially if the HDD S.M.A.R.T data shows hints of fatigue, replace the HDD with new drive and keep the original HDD as backup.
d) Use a new internal SSD to install Manjaro. You may want to mount the (new) HDD as /home during installation, this make backups so much easier.
If you choose to out /home on the HDD, the SSD for / only needs to be a 128GB or 256GB model, which are quiet cheap these days.
e) Transfer your personal data from the external SSD (or the original HDD) back to your /home folder.
Another hint when choosing SSDs: Try to find SSDs which use TLC chips. These are often more reliable in the long run.
After you’ve installed Manjaro, you can plug in the old Windows SSD and use your UEFIs boot selector (usually by hitting F12 on power-up) to choose which OS you want to boot.
I tend to replace my disks after 3 to 4 years, just to prevent premature data loss due to disk failure and I always keep the old disks as cold backup and source disc to transfer my files to the new disc.
My current setup is a 256GB SSD for / and 2x 2TB HDD for data storage, mounted in subdirectories of my /home folder. And I have to say that this has worked well for me.
Your mileage my vary, but this is what I can recommend from experience.
Thanks for the clarification, what I saw in that folder was Bing related and advertisement so, I assume it is all the “telemetry” there. Also minecraft file is unhashable due to permission restriction.
