dual boot omv and linux

Hi everyone,

I would like to ask for a suggestion. I have an old hp notebook (p6-2120 el, 6Gb ram, 500 hard disk, Intel processor - 2° generation) that is currently running windows 10. It has become slow over time and an upgrade to win 11 is excluded, since it would be for sure slower. I would make of it a portable nas, which would be of use as I am going to spend so months away from home. I have already installed three times omv6 on old desktop at the university. They host a digital archive of humanities and work great. So my idea would be to install omv6 or even 7 in a first partition of, say, 30 Gb. Probably it is ok for system and some docker apps. Obviously, I will have to shrink the full install with gparted. But that should be fine. I have already done three times. Here comes the point. A full alongside installation of a ubuntu-based distro such as Linux mint or Zorin Os would be not a bad idea, since I could take advantage of it as a second working station in my time away from home. I have never tried it, but it should work. Probably the installed linux distro would take care right at the installation of the grub fix, so that both omv or linux could be choosen at the boot. If I give, say, 70 Gb for linux, I could format in ext4 a data partition of 400 Gb for both systems. It could work, I don't know for sure.

Alternatively, I could go for an easy linux installation (mint or zorin), create a vm and run omv 6 or 7. But I don't know if it would read data on linux main distro, or even more on a external hard disk drive of 16Tb (ext4), where much more data would be stored. I have experienced some issues with gnome software like boxes. They don't read natively data on the linux main system and some workaround is probably needed.

I would be grateful if you could give some advice, including some other possibilities that I cannot think of. I repeat the scenario: the use of an old notebook as a portable nas, which should not exclude the occasional use of it a secondary pc (my main pc or laptop equipped with win 11 could need some assistance).

Thanks a lot

Salvatore

Hi again,

thank you for your replies. Much appreciated. I admit, in general, there is no much sense to double booting a server. A server is a server. However, the case scenario here is slightly different. Let me recapitulate it. I would like to have a portable nas, which should not exclude the use of the old notebook in case of necessity as primary pc. It appears to me that the dual boot solution, after all, is not that bad idea. Here's why. The notebook can work directly as a omv server making directly the ca. 400 GB data available to the network, plus an external HD of 16 Tb. Also, It can work as an alternative operating system to Win 11, with access to online resources ecc, the 400 GB data plus an external HD. The advantage compared to installing omv or only Linux is that each of the two systems can do its part at its best. If my main win 11 laptop works well, it will have direct and immediate access to the server's media.

If Win does not work, Linux will work as a second system, with direct access to online services, data and hard disk. Having said that, I wonder which would be the requirements for sda1 partition with omv7. Is 30 Gb ok for basic sambashare and some docker or should I make 50? As docker apps I would consider mostly general media apps such as Jellyfin, or maybe some other books management apps such as calibre. No need for nextcloud or similar office applications since they will be covered by linux. Thanks a lot

Hi, this is an interesting perspective, which I could not think of. I could install omv7 on usb stick, say 32 Gb, and boot it when needed. It should be able to mount the data partition ext4 of 400 Gb and external hd. I have to check. I don't not know if that sort of old notebook allows usb booting. At that time you had cd boot option, but I will definitely check. It would be quite handy. Good idea. Much appreciated.

About portable nas: I guess, you can carry it with you. For travelers, not bad as an option..