I bought a laptop with windows 11 instaled in its 256gb nmve ssd. I want to install linux but I want to first create an image of the ssd and store it in an external 4tb ssd with a ext4 filesystem (that I use for different backups) so in case I want to sell the laptop later I can restore windows 11 to the same ssd from the image. So what i’m planning to do is:

  • dd if=/dev/drive_device of=external_ssd/images/windows11.img

for creating the image and swapping if and of for restoring. My question is if creating the image of a drive with a windows 11 filesystem and storing it in a ext4 filesystem is possible or can have any issue. I ask this because I read that in the case of cloning the target drive will end up with the filesystem of the source drive in case they are different, which caused me some hesitation.

  • ReversalHatchery@beehaw.orgEnglish
    1·
    8 hours ago

    there are. for one because of the license key, but also because it’s not rare that its hard to find all the drivers that make all of the laptop work

    • catloaf@lemm.eeEnglish
      2·
      8 hours ago

      OEM license keys have been stored in the BIOS for several versions now: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Locked_Pre-installation

      For 99% of drivers, the on-disc ones are enough to get up and running, and as long as you have an Internet connection you can download any that aren’t on-disc. The remaining 1% can be obtained directly from the OEM. Modem Windows is very good about this.

      • ReversalHatchery@beehaw.orgEnglish
        1·
        7 hours ago

        For 99% of drivers, the on-disc ones

        op will wipe the disk

        as long as you have an Internet connection you can download any that aren’t on-disc

        if windows update can guess correctly what kind of device you have

        The remaining 1% can be obtained directly from the OEM

        I did not have that experience last time with an acer laptop