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++ I am a beginner, I need your help please, to illustrate this issue:- ++ In the case of dual Boot, with Win7 (on HDD of an old Laptop, Ram = 2+1) as primary, and Mint19.1 (on Caddy SSD) as secondary: ++++ What are the advantages and disadvantages of installing Mint GRUB on: + the HDD (with Win7), + or, on the Caddy SSD (with Mint19.1)?

Many thanks for your help in advance

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There is no good reason to install GRUB on the Windows drive. It will just complicate maintaining the system, especially if you ever need to reinstall Windows. You can do all of the new installation on the Linux drive and not disturb the Windows drive at all.

When you install Linux, it will install GRUB as part of the process. The GRUB installation will search for any other operating systems already on your computer on any drives. It will find Windows and add a link to it in the GRUB boot options (it won't change anything on the Windows drive).

Then you make the Linux drive the first boot device in BIOS. When you power up, GRUB will give you a menu of boot choices. If you want to boot Windows, you select it in GRUB, and GRUB will launch Windows the same way Windows would start if it was the only OS.

GRUB does its work in the first few seconds after you power on (after any hardware power-on self-testing). It gives you a menu and then hands things off to the boot provision you choose. So it isn't really affecting anything other than that. There's no advantage to putting it some place other than the Linux drive, and there can be a disadvantage if you put it on the Windows drive.

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  • Many thanks for the quick and detailed reply.+ So, Win7 will never confused by the presence of Mint19.1, as the leader of the computer. Is it so please? + Something else please, can one give the leadership of the booting processes to Win7, and put it to give a menu of its own, of choices bet. Win7 and Mint? I mean to be sure that if any problem during booting happens, the computer will return to Win7, and not to lose its way?++++ Many thanks in advance
    – Makram Zaki Shenouda
    Commented Jun 28, 2019 at 20:26
  • @MakramZakiShenouda There isn't really a "leader" or primary vs. secondary. Each OS is a standalone, and neither cares about the presence of the other. If you remove one of the drives, the remaining OS will be just like it was the only one ever there (although if you remove the Windows drive and then try to boot Windows from GRUB, it will get lost in its underwear looking for Windows; you would want to update GRUB to avoid that). The advantage of keeping GRUB on the Linux drive is that the Windows drive is totally unaffected. (cont'd)
    – fixer1234
    Commented Jun 28, 2019 at 20:55
  • Remove the Linux drive and the whole computer will be exactly as it is now. Similarly, if you leave the Windows drive as first in the BIOS boot order, the computer will always just boot Windows the same as it does now (unless you are fast and access the boot device choices at power-on). Windows has its own boot provision, which isn't affected by GRUB. Mint does, too. Think of GRUB as just a menu. (cont'd)
    – fixer1234
    Commented Jun 28, 2019 at 20:55
  • You pick what OS you want to boot, then GRUB hands things off to that OS and the OS boots the same way it would if it was the only one on the system. It's really almost like having two computers. When you pick the OS in GRUB, that OS is what runs the computer and controls all of its resources. The other OS is just data occupying space on a drive during that session. Windows 7 doesn't have anything comparable to GRUB; it likes to think that it is the only OS. So Windows 7 doesn't support dual booting by itself.
    – fixer1234
    Commented Jun 28, 2019 at 20:56
  • @MakramZakiShenouda, all that said, let me add a caveat. If you aren't familiar with the technical terminology, and/or you are not meticulous and careful during the installation process, you can mess up, like picking wrong installation details. You could mess up Windows through mistakes. Before you start, have a set of Windows recovery disks, or an image backup of the Windows drive, just in case. You could also reduce risks by disconnecting the Windows drive while you install Linux. (cont'd)
    – fixer1234
    Commented Jun 28, 2019 at 21:22

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