Building a dream house also means an ungodly amount of debt for the mortgage. The matching kit is a better financial decision.

That definition made me think of samaras floating in the wind.

Microsoft. I have used Linux for more than 25 years but also worked in a helpdesk. In some jobs I’ve been able to avoid their stuff completely but most of the time I’m stuck using Windows and worst of all, Teams.

Cars. I don’t drive and won’t drive. I hate cars and hate seeing them everywhere. I moved to a city where there’s bike paths and public transit and it’s great for me but the city is still choked with noisy polluting cars. And I still need one to go back in my little shitty town that had passenger trains for a century before being cut in the 90ies. The whole society is pushing and bullying people into getting cars. You’ll love your new car! You’re not a real adult until you have a car. Get a car!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._L._Zamenhof

English is not my native language. I’m glad I learned it, because I just have an interest in linguistics and it’s very close to my native language, but I can clearly see how “imperialistic” this is, how my parents and friends struggle with that language, and how there could be something much easier, that would allow them to experience cultural exchanges without having to learn the “dominant” language.

Mi lernis Esperanton pli ol 20 jaroj. Ĝin estus mirinda, sed malĝoja, mi malrememoras multa, kay uzas Anglo kaj Germano pli.

Ahem. Konformists.

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Ugh. That reminds me of the Microsoft admin fanboys where I worked, dissing Linux because its all command lines, while saying that MS inventing PowerShell was a stroke of genius making their lives easier.

I’m afraid I’ve been using Linux for so long that I’m not very knowledgeable about backup software for Windows. But I’ve been using Duplicati for a single Windows computer for years, and it’s apparently also running on Linux. I never tried on Linux though, so don’t take my words for cash.

There’s also Duplicity, but it’s command line and will probably require installing the Windows Subsystem for Linux. There’s also Bacula but it’s mostly for businesses. This Wikipedia page may know more than me.

On Linux, Deja Dup acts as a graphical interface for Duplicity, is easy, and is the default for GNOME and Cinnamon. Compatible with Duplicity but as mentioned, it’s complicated for Windows.

However I think those are “too complicated” (I prefer raw files instead of archives) and for Linux I’ve been using rsync with a job scheduler (cron) for years. It’s technically not a backup solution in itself but many backup software, like those mentioned, use rsync in some form anyway. Unfortunately it does not work on Windows. My strategy is to use rsync to copy my important files to an older HDD, then the very important files are also sent on an online drive.

The TLDR would be to give Duplicati a try if you really want a backup solution that is cross platform and graphical. Otherwise, there’s nothing more certain than making copies yourself.

I guess I don’t need to remind you to be careful. Take your time. Try restoring to be sure it works. Good luck!

I have created directories of my own in several odd locations which I cannot recall but they also contain some critical files.

O_o If those files are critical, they should be backed up in multiple locations. But if you cannot recall, are those files really critical? Regardless, one day a drive will fail and those files will be lost. Critical data should be backed up in multiple locations.

I only have a single NVMe SSD installed that is almost out of space so I cannot dualboot

How do you intend to switch to Linux without available disk space? It is possible to install and boot Linux from an external drive but performance will obviously suffer. But any way you get Linux running, if it’s on the same computer and if your Windows drives are not encrypted, you should have access to them from Linux. There is no need to copy them or move them if Linux is on another drive but on the same computer. Simply installing Linux will not risk the data, as long as you don’t format the wrong partition. You can leave it there and probably access it from Linux to do what you want with it.

I can make use of an external HDD during the transfer.

Why not backup the critical data on an external HDD?

Please don’t tell me I have to copy and paste all files by hand because given the criticality of the stored data I would rather stay in Windows than risking data loss.

Erm, how do you proceed when you change your computer with Windows? Do you use specialized software to “migrate” your data for you? And if you want an automatic way to do it, how would you ensure the automatic way did it correctly? If this is what stops you from migrating, maybe it’s preferable to keep things as they are for you?! Maybe try a live USB drive environment instead of installing?!

In any way, seeing your other replies, I can only strongly encourage you to make proper backups as this may one day save your critical data, and also facilitate any future PC or OS migration.

I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful or positive but if you made a mess and want to make sure you don’t lose anything, you may want to start by cleaning up, know what you have, where it is, and have it in multiple locations. Then you can start thinking about migrating without worrying about the data.

Seeing a metalhead in the snow reminds me of this gem: The Mighty Gates Of The Couloir Bonaventure

It can’t hurt to know this but to me PS is not intuitive, looks like SomeLongString-ActingLikeA-Command, and I avoid it as much as using Windows in the first place, unless absolutely necessary.

For a moment I thought that ‘commandName -’ was some PowerShell stuff.

Genuine. I still wonder if I pronounced it correctly every time I use the word.

Also when someone you know uses Windows 11.

It’s kind of complicated. I’ve used Linux since Slackware 7 and I still have issues with some drivers.

Sometimes you just already have the hardware. Sometimes the vendor says it’s compatible but it’s not, or you have to compile drivers from a CD. Sometimes it depends on the version of the kernel used. Sometimes it depends on the architecture. Sometimes conditions change and what’s supposed to be working doesn’t.

I don’t think the meme is blaming Linux, it’s just how it is for some people. Some are gonna distro hop, some are gonna compile their own kernel.

It’s the same gender than all machines, which is obviously feminine.

There’s no fixed rule for this but if a noun ends with a consonant it’s probably masculine and if it ends with a vowel it’s possibly feminine. Again, not a consistent rule and it will not work for everything, but if you must take a guess, this might help, or not.

Now this reminds me of Sebastian Marx and his videos on French. Like this one on pronunciation.

They are UNIX systems, they don’t need an entire team to be managed once installed and running.

I’m only half joking. It’s not UNIX but I’ve been working with “legacy” systems like IBM i mainframes, and those things don’t need much to run. Sure, you have to update the system and the software once every few months, manage backups, role switches, etc., but it can mostly be done by a few people. But yeah, systems like this were (are) insanely expensive so most of his budget probably went there.

Just in case you don’t know, unless it changed last time I checked, some organizations like Comptia didn’t allow computers with dual boot to be used to pass a cert exam.

Any of the sixteen YouTube channel narrated by Simon Whistler.

It may not be intentional slop but it’s pretty much the definition of quantity over quality.

…is your taxonomic nomenclature.