Boot Ubuntu from USB - is HD encrypted partition safe?

[markh1289]

Hi All,

On current model HP laptop Win8.1 is installed with disk encryption.
Occasionally I want to be able to use the laptop hardware for a different purpose.
If I boot it to Ubuntu 14 on a USB drive and make no attempt to read or write to the encrypted disk, will the Win8.1 installation remain safe from corruption by Ubuntu?

Regards, MH

[dino99]

if you boot from a live usb, then you work inside the ram (and swap if needed & activated by yourself), and if you does not explicitly mount the hdd, then ubuntu will not be aware of its existance ;)

[sudodus]

Short answer: Yes.

Longer answer: Ubuntu (booted from USB) will not write to the internal drive by itself. If you want to, you can try to mount the Windows partition, but if it is encrypted, you will probably fail. If you want to, you can use gparted and remove the Windows partition (and create new partitions for Ubuntu), but I don't think you will do that by mistake, so yes, the Win8.1 installation will remain safe from corruption by Ubuntu.

[markh1289]

Thanks very much for your replies