Random Thoughts

[emjay]

@Ravenshire

Sorry, just one more quick question... with that common libraries thing for Steam, did you mean I'd need to set up an NTFS partition between the Windows partition and the soon-to-exist Mint partition? So three partitions in total, one for Windows, one for Linux, and one for any shared data between the two, in this case Steam files, but could also work well for anything else that needs to be shared. Or did you mean, only two partitions, Windows and Linux, with Linux reading the Steam files on the Windows partition directly? I'm thinking you probably mean the latter? because I don't know if Steam can be installed or moved separate from Program Files... ie onto a non booting partition?

I keep all my games on a separate NTFS formatted, non-bootable drive but, that's a matter of convenience for my system. You can easily keep games on your Windoze bootable partition but, because of Windoze restrictions, you can't keep them on your Linux partition. While Linux can read most any disc format you can throw at it, Windoze is restricted to M$ approved formats. When dual booting, I've found it easier to establish the gaming folder structure for the Steam client under Windoze first, then set up the Steam client in Linux and change the game directory to the folder on the Windoze partition. I can't remember the exact steps, but it's easily googled.

Cool... I think I'll follow your approach then; a separate data partition makes the most logical sense to me, and I'm not sure I'd trust Linux to be accessing/modifying another bootable volume without potentially corrupting the file system. Thanks again for all your help... I'm really looking forward to all of this now