Should I and how to dual boot windows?

rarenick

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My wife pc is purely for work but I also wish to use it for 3d gaming.

Current setup is c: drive m.2 nvme 500gb for Windows 10 and d: drive 1tb Sata ssd for data files. Backup is on e: drive 2tb ext USB3 hdd. I have created another administrator account for myself to login for gaming. However, I am eating into the 500gb drive and whatever I installed also appeared on her drive. My worry is the things I installed might also affect the performance of the pc when she logs in to her account.

I am thinking whether to buy another m.2 nvme 500gb to install another Windows 10 (ie dual boot for my gaming? Which method should I use and what are the pros n cons?

1. Dual boot menu during os startup (set to 3 secs default os selection). I am concerned whether when she boots into her os, will she see my os drive as an extended partition? I don't want to screw up her drive lettering.

2. Select boot drive at bios level. How is this compared to the method 1 mentioned above? Is it cleaner n easier to setup? Since I can anytime remove the drive and won't affect the os boot menu. There's no way to screw up her usage. Will it be more inconvenient for me each time I want to use her pc? But I only use her pc once every few days. Also will this method mess with any boot loader etc?



Lastly, will I be able to activate current Windows 10 license on both of these ssd setup as dual boot or separate drives at bios selection? Will it auto store in UEFI?
 
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uncle_josh

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1. Check how many nvme ssd does your wife pc support

2. Dual boot is dangerous and clunky. Any OS crash, its double the headache. Not recommended.

3. Find out the boot menu key and put the 2nd OS on the 2nd ssd. Default boot should be your wife ssd.

4. Windows 10 license follows the motherboard, so no worries. Just clone over or fresh install will not affect the license. But when you doing fresh install, make sure all other ssd are disconnected.


5. Once all done, just inform her C drive and D drive for her. R drive is for you (name your drive with a higher drive letter)

Sent from Because Respect Is A Two-Way Street

using GAGT
 
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rarenick

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Is there a possibility to install os on ext hdd and boot from it to play 3d games?
 

JellyPudding

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Technically you can do that. But everytime you start your computer you will have to select the boot device. That would become a pain in the long run.

Just plug in the external HDD or SSD (recommended) and install your OS and drivers.

However the overall performance might have a slight impact.

Is there a possibility to install os on ext hdd and boot from it to play 3d games?
 

rarenick

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Technically you can do that. But everytime you start your computer you will have to select the boot device. That would become a pain in the long run.

Just plug in the external HDD or SSD (recommended) and install your OS and drivers.

However the overall performance might have a slight impact.
thanks. i have figured it out and using this method without inconvenience. My ext usb ssd is set to boot priority 1 then followed by internal nvme ssd. So when ext ssd is not plugged in, it will auto boot on internal ssd. Performance in gaming wise no difference so far, at least to me, without benchmarking tools.
 
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