Score:0

If Windows 10 and Ubuntu are installed on different physical drives, reinstalling a fresh Windows 10 will not have any effect on my dual boot?

mx flag

I have Windows 10 on my SSD, and Ubuntu resides on my HDD. My intuitive thought is that reinstalling a fresh Windows 10 will only wipe the SSD. Am I safe to go ahead and reinstall?

ChanganAuto avatar
us flag
No, your Ubuntu does not reside in any D: drive as that is a Windows convention. Another problem with such convention is the confusion between (physical) drives and partitions. From your description is anyone's guess whether you have two drives with one OS each or a single drive with different partitions. Are you safe to go ahead and reinstall? Not really if you don't understand the aforementioned distinction and, generally speaking, if you need to ask a question such as this, definitely not.
in flag
*Never* trust Microsoft to keep things simple. Just because the OSes are on different drives (or partitions) does not mean they’re always treated separately. Make a backup of your critical data just in case things go bad. At the very least, you will need to reinstall the Grub boot loader as Windows will eliminate it to ensure it’s the only OS that can boot. Have an Ubuntu installation USB (or DVD) ready.
Nmath avatar
ng flag
Unfortunately, Windows' convention to use letters for "drives" is ambiguous because a "drive" could be a physical hard drive or it could simply be a partition. For this reason, your question does not include enough information to answer. FYI, the only way your data will be safe is if you have a very thorough backup plan which includes duplicating important data in multiple places. Installing or Uninstalling operating systems and making changes to partitions is increased risk, especially for mistakes, especially if you are inexperienced. Back up.
Hummus avatar
mx flag
edited post for clarity, different physical drives @ChanganAuto
oldfred avatar
cn flag
Maybe, or maybe not. If UEFI install, both Windows & Ubuntu share one ESP - efi system partition. But if BIOS, Windows defaults its boot partition to default drive as per BIOS. If that drive is Ubuntu, Windows does not see it and just overwrites the beginning of the drive. Backups & disconnect or disable in UEFI the Ubuntu drive is the safest choice.
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