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right now I am considering reinstalling my Windows/Ubuntu dual boot because they were originally on two external hard drives and I can't boot into my Windows anymore. Can someone correct my steps and clarify if I am missing anything:

  1. I should create a backup of my Ubuntu and windows on a external hard drive and
  2. Then uninstall and reinstall Windows on my SSD.
  3. uninstall and reinstall Ubuntu on a partition of that SSD -> therefore now both OS are on 1 drive

like so technically having two partitions on my SSD for Ubuntu and Windows, and then having my HDD and other SSD in the desktop would work right?

Clarifications: - I can't access my Ubuntu partition from Windows and vice versa - but both have access to the HDD and SSD that don't have the Ubuntu/Windows boot on it

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  • Ubuntu will create two partitions by default, a root (/) and a swap. Windows may also create two partitions, a `C:` and a system partition. If your computer boots to UEFI mode, there will be an UEFI partition as well.
    – user68186
    Jan 30, 2015 at 19:35

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I've just done exactly this:

Installed Win10 (or 8, or 7) on 1/3 of my laptops SSD Installed Ubuntu on 1/3 of the laptops SSD Allocated the remaining 1/3 as a shared disk for data I want in both operating systems. This partition has to be allocated in NTFS (do it in Windows just to make sure). Ubuntu can load NTFS partitions without issue, including the windows partition if you want.

Don't bother uninstalling though, once backed up I would just delete all existing partitions and start from a fresh disk, it makes allocating your new partitions easier

One thing to be aware of though, make sure you are consistent in installing both in either MBR (old method) or UEFI mode (new method). UEFI is the way of the future, but older systems may not support it.

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  • Okay, so I should format my two unused hard drives as NTFS, so both windows and UBuntu can read them. Can you elaborate a little more on what UEFI is vs MBR? Is this determined by my motherboard?
    – ajl123
    Jan 30, 2015 at 23:16
  • Sorry - been travelling. Yeah, UEFI is the new way a computer boots into an OS. Its set in the bios, and basically tells your computer where to look to start booting into an OS. Before it was just a hard-coded section of your disk (MBR)
    – FrozenKiwi
    Feb 9, 2015 at 16:22

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