On 3/28/25 10:11, Ife Wright wrote:
I want to install debian but I don't understand why I have to erase everything on my hard disk to do it,I just want to install without erasing my hard disk
It sounds like what you want is "dual boot" -- e.g. a bootable disk drive with more than one operating system. To accomplish such, you need to determine what firmware mode your computer is using -- typically BIOS, UEFI, or UEFI Legacy -- and what partitioning scheme is on the disk drive -- typically MBR or GPT. You will also need space on the disk drive to put Debian. This typically means shrinking the Windows C: partition. Once you have accomplished those things, you will need the knowledge and skill to add a second operating system without breaking the first. Going forward, you will need the knowledge and skills to trouble-shoot things when they do break.
While there are experts who succeed at dual-boot, I find my time is better spent by putting mobile racks in my computers, or buying laptops with accessible disk drives, and putting each operating system on its own disk drive. Alternatively, I leave the factory operating system, install a hypervisor, and add a virtual machine for each additional operating system.
David
