I want to make the switch but I want to test run first before fully committing. My PC has an M.2 SSD. I was thinking I could buy another one, swap them out and put Linux on that. In an emergency, I can swap the SSD back. Does this seem like a viable/sensible path toward Linux? I don’t really have too many files on my PC that I care about. I don’t want to dual boot. I did that on a laptop back in the day and it was annoying.
Good point that I didn’t consider. I actually don’t know if I have 2 slots. I just took a peek in the glass door and I can’t see well enough without unplugging a bunch. Either way, I’m buying another SSD so I guess I’ll make that call when I open my case to put it in.
If you know the model of your motherboard, you could look up the user manual. Then you don’t need to open it to see if you have two slots. Also, I don’t know your setup. If you have a slot for a physically bigger hard drive, then it might be a good idea to get a bigger storage drive as your second drive. If you like Linux, then reinstall it to your main drive and keep the second drive as storage drive.
If you only have one slot, you can always put the old drive in a USB4 enclosure and turn it into a really fast flash drive.