replacing windows with Ubuntu

[Karl Auer]

On Wed, 2014-06-04 at 09:34 +0200, Mark Widdicombe wrote:
> On 4 June 2014 09:21, Vinny Ray <Vinny at fusiontunes.net> wrote:
> > How do I get the windows crap off of my computer and replace it with
> > Ubuntu without destroying my system?
> 
> May I make the observation that if you want to sell your computer at any
> time in the future you will find it easier if it still has windows on it.
>  I would shrink the windows partition to the minimum, and install Ubuntu on
> the remainder of the disc; then when it comes time to sell, just remove
> Ubuntu and expand the windows partition.  You'll probably lose about 20GB
> to the windows partition.

That's a very good point. Your approach has the added benefit of
preserving all the OP's data files on the Windows partition. Not so good
for resale though - because all the OP's files are still on the drive.

Most modern computers, if purchased with Windows installed, have a
mechanism to restore the OS from a special "hidden" partition on the
hard disk. If such a partition was present when the OP purchased the
computer, it might be best to give Ubuntu everything except that
partition. Then, when the computer is to be resold, the OP can use e.g.
the shred utility to wipe the Ubuntu partitions, and restore Windows
from the hidden partition.

Of course, if the OP has Windows install media, that would be even
better.

If it were me, I would back up my data files and blow Windows away just
for the satisfaction of it. Full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes! :-)

Regards, K.

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Karl Auer (kauer at biplane.com.au)
http://www.biplane.com.au/kauer
http://twitter.com/kauer389

GPG fingerprint: EC67 61E2 C2F6 EB55 884B E129 072B 0AF0 72AA 9882
Old fingerprint: B862 FB15 FE96 4961 BC62 1A40 6239 1208 9865 5F9A