Removing Ubuntu from a previous install, leaving the data

hessmo

10/10/23, 1:31 AM

Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS is installed as dual-boot with Windows 11 onto a 1 TB SSD. An internally-attached 8TB hard drive contains a 6TB partition with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS installed, which has my Shotwell folder containing 4.3 TB of photos and videos. I would like to remove all of the Ubuntu 18.04 system files from the disk, freeing up space for more photos. Is it possible to delete the system files or must I copy my photos to another drive and reformat this drive to get the space back?

1 + 1

filesystem

shotwell

Nmath

10/10/23, 1:49 AM

Ubuntu system files take up an insignificant amount of space, a drop in the bucket when you are talking about 4-8TB. That being said, why can't you just delete everything you don't want to keep? Is there something preventing you from doing that? Before you do anything, I hope you have good backups of any data you don't want to lose. You hopefully can identify which files and folders contain your photos and videos and which ones do not, but this is insurance against yourself making a mistake.

Score:0

Ubuntu

vanadium

10/10/23, 9:02 AM

To remove the Ubuntu system files without removing the user data, delete all folders except the ones you want to keep. You can do that from a live session started by booting an Ubuntu installation USB or DVD.

Restore the Windows bootloader, so the system boots automatically into Windows without loading the linux bootloader first.

Note, however, that Linux uses the ext4 file system, which Windows cannot access, although drivers are available to do so. So in the end, you will prefer to reformat the drive to ntfs instead, then copy the photo's back to that drive from your backup.

+ 2

hessmo

10/12/23, 5:00 AM

I modified my question before I noticed the answer. I was unaware that a live session would allow me to delete the unwanted system files, so this is the answer that I'm looking for. Thank you

vanadium

10/12/23, 6:54 AM

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