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I have two hard drives, one of which (sda) is a 30 GiB SSD, the other (sdb) is a 930 GiB HDD. I have some unallocated space at the end of sdb that I want to install windows to.

Here is a picture explaining it:

Main boot disk Secondary data disk

What is the easiest way to install windows into that space? I want sda to be my main boot disk, and use GRUB from there to launch either my main ubuntu install, or my windows install.

Also, is there a good way to help preserve my /data partition? While I agree that a backup is the best option, my backup options are limited, as the only storage device I have that is big enough is limited to a 10MB/s upload, meaning it would take nearly 10 hours to make a backup. (That, plus the fact that most of the data I store there is barely even worth storing once, let alone twice. Rest assured that I will be backing up any actually important data regardless of what else I do.)

I have read How do I install Windows 7 alongside a pre-existing Ubuntu installation? and Install on Second Hard Drive with startup boot option?, but neither quite answer my question.

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  • From past history I would say it is impossible. Windows needs to be on the 1st partition of a disc. Why are you asking this on a site dedicated to Ubuntu? Would it not be better to ask this to users of the Windows system if this is possible?
    – Rinzwind
    Sep 16, 2014 at 12:19
  • @Rinzwind I looked, but I'm pretty sure there isn't a Windows stackexchange. Sep 16, 2014 at 12:23
  • @Rinzwind Also, this document indicates that the "must be first partition" is just a limitation of the windows bootloader, not something intrinsic to the windows system. Using GRUB to launch windows should allow this to work. Sep 16, 2014 at 12:33
  • Yes there is: superuser.com is windows ;)
    – Rinzwind
    Sep 16, 2014 at 13:10
  • @Rinzwind oh great, thanks. Unfortunately I can't vote for migration because I don't have enough rep for that. Sep 16, 2014 at 13:15

1 Answer 1

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What seems more practical is:

Disconnect the hard disk /dev/sda.

Install Windows in the free space of /dev/sdb (now /dev/sda)

Reconnect hard disk /dev/sda

Run to incorporate Windows to Grub:

sudo -i
update-grub 
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  • Sounds good; that's probably what I will do unless somebody comes up with an even better solution. Sep 16, 2014 at 16:21

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