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I originally had an Xubuntu 14.04 (32 bit) on my machine. I have now also installed a Ubuntu 14.04 (64 bit) on the same machine and plan to migrate eventually there. In both OSes I have access to files belonging to the other OS.

If I edit a file belonging to Xubuntu while I am on the new OS, or the other way around, would the other OS think the FS is corrupt once I boot it up? The files are mostly php, css, js, html files and nothing fancy/crazy.

2 Answers 2

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It depends on which files will be changed. If you edit let's say a Libre Office spreadsheet file you were working on, then nothing wrong will happen. However if you change system files (for example files in /etc /bin or similar locations) it might corrupt your system. Such situation will occur regardless of the system you are working on at the moment. However in general every OS defends its important files and requires for example root password to edit them. So there might exist a possibility to change seamlessly even the important files belonging to one system while working on the other one.

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  • Good point, the sensitive files of the other OS loose their usual protection and care should be taken not to delete/move/rename/alter them. Dec 23, 2015 at 21:06
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You shouldn't have to worry about filesystem corruption as long as you do clean shutdowns and unmounts. Avoid editing system configuration files1. You can edit your own documents without worry; many people dual-boot their systems and work with their files on multiple OSes.

1As long as ensure your edits are correct, you should be fine with those too.

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  • There is another use case I am not sure if any issue will come out of: Say I have a git repo on Xubuntu, If I change files in that repo while on Ubuntu, and commit those changes using git on Ubuntu, when I go back to Xubuntu, will the other git play it cool (assuming git is same version on both OSes)? -- but I guess this case is more related to git, not Dual-boot complications. Dec 23, 2015 at 21:03
  • If either git version is too new, you can have problems with the other. That applies to most tools.
    – muru
    Dec 23, 2015 at 21:06

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