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I am a Windows user planning to convert to Ubuntu. I have a few questions:

  1. I have several external hard drives with documents (doc, xls, etc.), pictures, music and movies. Can I still use those external hard drives on Ubuntu without doing anything, or do I have to do anything with the filesystem?
  2. I have some software that I haven't found for Ubuntu. If I use Wine on Ubuntu, will any Windows program then run smoothly?
  3. If I decide to dual boot my computer with Windows XP and Ubuntu, can I access my external hard drives with both systems?
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  • Take a look here
    – kiri
    Oct 7, 2013 at 0:32
  • @Guzzi If you can't find exact same software on Ubuntu, think what are you trying to accomplish with that software. When you have clear requirment for usage, just Google it adding Ubuntu at the end of your query. If you don't find anything, you can post quesion about recommended software for given task here on AskUbuntu.
    – Rafal
    Oct 7, 2013 at 6:42

3 Answers 3

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  1. Yes all external hard drives can be used as normal. Just click on them in Ubuntu to mount them. Ubuntu can read/write to NTFS and you can just use your files as normal.
  2. You need to check the WineDB for what programs are supported. Also checks versions and what functions aren't supported, everything doesn't work with wine.
  3. Yes the dual boot system does not affect anything outside of Ubuntu. Everything can still be used. I would try Ubuntu (or what flavour you want) on a Live-USB/CD to see that you like it before you install. Since your computer is now running XP (which is quite old) you might have to look at lighter versions of Ubuntu like, Xubuntu or Lubuntu. It depends on how much RAM you have since Ubuntu(12.04/13.04) is using more RAM than Windows XP.

I've listed some usefull questions on this topic below.

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  • @braiam yeah realized that too. Removed that line.
    – Alvar
    Oct 7, 2013 at 6:55
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I am a Windows user planning to convert to Ubuntu.

No problem. However, I recommend to use Kubuntu instead of "standard" Ubuntu, because it has "more traditional" interface similar to Windows. Or for slower machines, use Lubuntu.

I have several external harddrives with documents (doc, xls etc), pictures, music and movies. Can I still use those external harddrives on Ubuntu without doing anything, or do I have to do anything with the file system?

Yes, I am using plenty of removable flash disks, HDDs etc. on Windows and linux computers and never did anything special to make them work on both systems.

I have some software I so far don't find for Ubuntu. If I use Wine on Ubuntu, will any windowsprogram then run smooth?

No, there is not 100% guarantee that all SW will work using Wine. Check Wine Application Database to make sure about particular apps.

If I decide to dual boot my computer with XP and Ubuntu, can I access my external harddrives with both system

No problem here :-) The only problem could be if you were using some disk encryption which is using Windows only program.

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If you want Ubuntu as primary OS and don't want dual boot or having to run Wine apps in Ubuntu, i recommend installing Oracle Virtual Box (free) in Ubuntu, then install your Windows OS in Virtual Box. that way you can run the entire Windows OS inside of Ubuntu without it having to have any root privileges like Wine needs. However, if it is an older slower machine, Virtual Box wont do it, I tried it on a vintage 2003 Dell pc, single core CPU, 2 GB RAM, the CPU couldn't handle it, it couldn't handle anything later than Ubuntu 11.04 anyway. But if you have at least a dual core (preferably quad core - 4 physical cores) CPU and 2 GB RAM or more, then you should be fine. Some mobo's bios don't support virtual environments either so check that too.

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