Dual Boot Setup Help

Hello,

I am currently running Windows 11 on an 500GB M.2 NVME (C:/) with my games on a 2TB SSD (D:/) , and general files/videos/programs on a 2TB HDD (E:/). I am looking to use Bazzite as my daily driver, and keep Win 11 for games that require EAC, and stuff that just generally does not support Linux. I understand it is best practice to separate the Win 11 install and the Bazzite install, which leads to my first question. I will be installing Bazzite on D:, should I completely format the drive, or can I dedicate say 1.5 TB to Bazzite. I am assuming I would have to delete my games off of D: and reinstall them either way, if that is incorrect please let me know. With the remaining space on D: is where I would install the 2-3 games I play that require windows. I guess I could try to clean up C: and move the 2-3 games there? I also use an RTX 4070, I understand there is a NVidia build of bazzite, is it very compatible or does having a NVidia card throw my whole plan into the water?

I can answer any additional questions or provide any other specs, I did watch a video on Youtube of the process but he was using two fresh installs.

Thank You

AlienOne•5/11/25, 8:15 PM

What are the 2 or 3 games you're trying to run on Windows?

AlienOne•5/11/25, 8:17 PM

Depending on the game, you might be able to get away with installing them on the 2TB HDD. I'd personally go with a freshly formatted drive for your Bazzite install without creating possible problems with partitioning. I also probably wouldn't install the games on your main Windows drive, being as it's pretty small anyway.

AlienOne•5/11/25, 8:19 PM

Any game that is not "ultra modern" can run perfectly find on an HDD. New ones (typically ones that are over 100GB in size) are the ones that need SSD (like Starfield or Oblivion Remastered or something like that)

AlienOne•5/11/25, 8:20 PM

I just completed a successful setup of dual-booting between Windows 10 and Bazzite, and it took me a good 2 weeks to get it exactly how I liked it, because I first tried getting both OSs on the same drive on two separate partitions, and that was a nightmare. Eventually, I just went with two separate drives

AlienOne•5/11/25, 8:21 PM

So, 2 separate drives is a good idea that you're going with, but if all you're concerned about for Windows is 2 or 3 games and those games don't absolutely need SSD to function, I'd just transfer them over to the HDD

AAlienOne What are the 2 or 3 games you're trying to run on Windows?

cucharas.OP•5/11/25, 8:45 PM

Fortnite, and Marvel Rivals, I believe everything else I play i've had success with on the steam deck. I dont believe they would function at their fullest on the HDD.

cucharas.OP•5/11/25, 8:46 PM

I might just need to finally upgrade my NVME lol

AlienOne•5/11/25, 9:54 PM

Fortnite's old enough to where I don't think it makes that much of a difference. Marvel Rivals....yeah, that'd probably have to be on SSD.

cucharas.OP•5/11/25, 10:26 PM

Thanks for the input, ill see if anything needs backing up/transferring from my SSD, I might just do a fresh windows install as well and look into the debloated windows iso.

cucharas.OP•5/11/25, 10:58 PM

follow up question:
How long did install take? Im debating on doing it tonight or starting tomorrow morning

AlienOne•5/11/25, 11:00 PM

depends on your hardware speed obviously, but I was able to get the install done for each OS in under an hour each....I wound up re-doing OS installs a bunch of times though as I figured out what worked best for me as far as drive file systems, what boot choice screen I wanted, which OS I wanted as default, and which Bazzite install I wound up settling on. But, on average, under an hour per OS.

AlienOne•5/11/25, 11:03 PM

now, adding apps you want, installing updates, doing restarts after updates and file type system drivers, etc., etc.....that'll add a bunch more time. Hence, why it took me two weeks to finally settle on exactly how I wanted my system to behave.

cucharas.OP•5/11/25, 11:03 PM

gotcha ty!

cucharas.OP•5/11/25, 11:04 PM

ill get started tomorrow

cucharas.OP•5/17/25, 2:58 AM

It ended up taking me a week to get too it, but i just finished installation after partitioning and moving files

Dual Boot Setup Help

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