Install Ubuntu Mate 20.04 without losing my data?

Hey community, I am so far using Windows 10 in my device. I think its time to change. So, Can i remove Windows 10 completely and install Ubuntu Mate 20.04 wihtout losing my personal data?

Hi Vasanth,
Of course, you can try and install it. I encourage you to install Mate and discover it! But some advertisements are important before start. Have to tell lots of goods tutos guide you to make it.

First of all, download, checksum and burn into a dvd or usb and try Ubuntu mate without installing. Explore it and verify well if works display drivers, sound, wifi, touchpad, usb and sd, printer and scanner. If something do not works properly, do not discourage, you can looking for googling later.

Second, it's VERY important backup your personal data in a secure external drive (sometimes I've done 2 backups, best), thinking if you install Mate, the best option is erase full disk encrypting your disk. I'm not saying you can do a dual boot with W10 also, or manual config of your partitions when you have knowledge what you're doing. With "best" I'm saying is the easy, fast and quite secure manner to do starting with Mate, because is the default config offered by experts.

Third, be aware Ubuntu or linux is NOT Windows. So you will find some things quite different. Would be good to install Ubuntu on a different disk, preserving W10 (at the moment) if something go wrong. Buy a ssd by a moderate price allows you to change your internal drive and install Ubuntu and discover it at your own pace. Other option is wirtualize it with Virtualbox or Hyper-V, for example.

Third, configure your system carefully, slowly and learning about it. You're not alone, Mate community is the best I've ever proudly been! But in the web you can find tones of good tutos and awesome people.

Four, enjoy!! :+1:

Cheers

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Hello Vasanth.

Sure you can, but first do backup of all your personal data and try Ubuntu MATE without installing as Tim suggested.

If you need more help with things you can check this topic bellow with lots of useful links, photos and explanations.

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Only if you back it all up so that it can be restored after you install Ubuntu. (It should be backed up anyway, right?) You can't do an 'in-place' install of Ubuntu over Windows.

Are you familiar with Ubuntu/MATE at all? You may want to just shrink your Windows partition down as much as you can and install Ubuntu in the resulting unallocated space. Then you can copy data over to Ubuntu as needed, and still have Windows if you find out you really needed it for something.

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