For most people, there’s no such thing as a “best” OS.
You’re fine using the OS you’re most comfortable with.
But what if you only have one machine?
That’s not a problem.
you might run multiple OSes either by dual-booting or using a virtual machine.
Let’s find out which one is best for you.
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Dual-booting is popular these days, especially because many Linux distros can automatically configure a dual-boot setup at installation.
for the OS that you boot into.
Even though you have multiple OSes installed, you only run one at a time.
This means you aren’t allocating half your CPU to one and half your CPU to another.
This is important for resource-intensive activities, like gaming.
So if you have a single 500GB drive, maybe Windows gets 200GB and Linux gets 300GB.
If you have two separate drives, you could dedicate each one to a particular OS.
It’s up to you.
These hard drive designations are calledpartitions.
Different OSes store their data in different ways.
For example, Windows commonly uses the NTFS filesystem whileLinux uses EXT4 or BTRFS.
Moving files between filesystems sometimes requires third-party software and can take longer due to the conversion process.
So what happens when you want toswitch from Windows to Linux?
As mentioned before, you have to restart the computer because the OS is selected at boot time.
This can be quite an inconvenience depending on how frequently it’s crucial that you switch between OSes.
But even so, rebooting to switch OSes is still a hassle.
Long story short, it’s just less of a headache this way.
Pros and Cons of a Virtual Machine
Virtual machines are not as scary as they sound.
They’re surprisingly easy and convenient to use even if you don’t have much technical experience.
That being said, using a virtual machine is neither better nor worse than dual-booting.
It’s just different.
Sounds pretty awesome, doesn’t it?
For the most part, it is awesome.
Try doing that with dual-booting.
(Hint: you’re able to’t.)
That’sone reason why virtual machines are bestfor testing new operating systems.
This all comes with a cost, though.
The more RAM you have, the smoother it will run.
Lastly, you’re probably wonderingwhich OS to use as the hostand which OS to use as the guest.
Technically, it doesn’t matter.
VirtualBox, for example, is cross-platform and works great pretty much across the board.
Therefore, we recommend choosing the OS that you’ll be using the most as your host.
If you’re only using Linux for programming one hour a day, then make Windows your host.
In that case, you’re probably better off dual-booting.
Dual-Booting vs.
Virtual Machines: Which Is Best for You?
If you’re switching between many OSes in frequent real-time, go virtual.
If you just need to test something in another OS for a few minutes, go virtual.
If you want a secure sandbox for an experiment, go virtual.
If you have a very powerful computer, go virtual.
If you think rebooting is a huge pain in the neck, go virtual.
Otherwise, you may want to go with dual-booting.
This is especially the case if you want to put each OS on an equal footing.
