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Discussion around the Framework mission of building products that last longer by making them upgradeable, customizable, and repairable. Consumer electronics can be better for you and for the environment.

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Dual boot with expansion card (alien.top)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hey guys,

Just curious if someone has done it before and thoughts behind it. I’ve ordered a 16 with GPU and was wondering what’s the best way of setting up the system when it arrives.

My primary OS is Arch Linux and I prefer not to split the disk for windows. And I happen to see some folks might be booting an OS through an expansion card ( I got the 1TB ).

My windows usage is primarily Steam and nothing else. The expansion card seems fast enough to run an OS, but it doesn’t look as fast as an SSD or NVMe, so games like starfield might suffer some performance is my current guess. If my guess is right, does it mean it’s better to have some external SSD to use as storage?

What do you guys think?

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Thanks folks!

Seems like it's impossible to run Windows on expansion card (shows my lack of knowledge of the OS), so it's either Linux on the expansion card, or just install each OS on the separate SSDs.

I actually forgot there were 2 SSDs coming with it, so SSD option actually works.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It is definitely possible! I just installed Windows 11 To Go on my 1tb expansion card using rufus and it runs very nicely. The card gets only slightly warm when booted into windows but it should be fine i think. I have only had it installed for 2 days though but all works very well for now.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Totally agree. It's just funny seeing soo many people say it's impossible. It's really stable in reality. Refreshing to see actually knowledgeable people here

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I have windows 10 installed on my expansion card, then I have all my steam games saved on the main SSD in an NTFS partition so games can be played from both windows and Linux, without having to be installed twice. It’s the perfect setup for my use case.

Since you’ll be working with a FW16 using the other M.2 would be a much better option, but it is totally possible to install/run windows on a USB drive

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

It's possible and really easy. Don't listen to misinformation from inexperienced people. DM me if you need help