Will install do anything to computer or just hard drive?

[jackwarr]

I am going to install Ubuntu 8.10 to my wife's laptop, but I have just one question. Will the install do anything to the computer itself (such as the BIOS) or are changes ONLY made to the hard drive? What I want to do is to have a separate hard drive that I can pop in to use Ubuntu, but then put the original hard drive back in when she wants to use Windows. There are a couple of applications that she use just a handful of times a year that only use Windows (like tax software). I need to be fairly certain that no changes or entries are made anywhere except for the hard drive.

[Neo_The_User]

It will only install to the hard drive.

[t0mppa]

You can even install them both on the same hard drive and then use either one on a whim, to save you the trouble of swapping out the hard drives.

[Therion]

You can even install them both on the same hard drive and then use either one on a whim, to save you the trouble of swapping out the hard drives.
+5

I've done the whole "dual-drive/dual-boot" thing aaaand... It blows.

Hard.

[wpshooter]

If you have anything critical on your windows tax software computer, then my suggestion would be that you NOT attempt to put Ubuntu on the same hard drive or even on the same computer, unless you are ABSOLUTELY sure that you have a BACKUP of your data that you can use to get the tax data restored in case things go south when you try to install Ubuntu.

[jackwarr]

If you have anything critical on your windows tax software computer, then my suggestion would be that you NOT attempt to put Ubuntu on the same hard drive or even on the same computer, unless you are ABSOLUTELY sure that you have a BACKUP of your data that you can use to get the tax data restored in case things go south when you try to install Ubuntu.

So if I'm swapping out the hard drives, shouldn't the tax stuff be okay then, as long as I'm not doing anything to that hard drive?

And, by the way, thanks for all of the input. It's because of this great community that I have Ubuntu on two computers and have three friends who now have it.

[Neo_The_User]

Unless you plan on using coreboot, linux won't touch your BIOS.

[ubudog]

Only the hard drive.

[NickBtheITguy]

So if I'm swapping out the hard drives, shouldn't the tax stuff be okay then, as long as I'm not doing anything to that hard drive?

And, by the way, thanks for all of the input. It's because of this great community that I have Ubuntu on two computers and have three friends who now have it.

You really should be fine if you are swapping out the drives. Do you have removable drive bays or are you going to open the case each time to swap the drives? If switching hard drives in and out is something that might happen often, then removable drive bays may be a good investment.

[wpshooter]

So if I'm swapping out the hard drives, shouldn't the tax stuff be okay then, as long as I'm not doing anything to that hard drive?

And, by the way, thanks for all of the input. It's because of this great community that I have Ubuntu on two computers and have three friends who now have it.

Personally, I would not consider exchanging hard drives every time I wanted to use an alternate O/S a solution !!!

[wpshooter]

So if I'm swapping out the hard drives, shouldn't the tax stuff be okay then, as long as I'm not doing anything to that hard drive?

And, by the way, thanks for all of the input. It's because of this great community that I have Ubuntu on two computers and have three friends who now have it.

Personally, I would not consider exchanging hard drives every time I wanted to use an alternate O/S a solution !!!

[wpshooter]

So if I'm swapping out the hard drives, shouldn't the tax stuff be okay then, as long as I'm not doing anything to that hard drive?

And, by the way, thanks for all of the input. It's because of this great community that I have Ubuntu on two computers and have three friends who now have it.

Personally, I would not consider exchanging hard drives every time I wanted to use an alternate O/S a solution !!!

[wpshooter]

So if I'm swapping out the hard drives, shouldn't the tax stuff be okay then, as long as I'm not doing anything to that hard drive?

And, by the way, thanks for all of the input. It's because of this great community that I have Ubuntu on two computers and have three friends who now have it.

Personally, I would not consider exchanging hard drives every time I wanted to use an alternate O/S a solution !!!

[wpshooter]

Sorry about the duplicate posts. Browser acted as if it was not functioing correctly.