I currently have a Dell laptop that runs Windows for work. I use an external SSD via the Thunderbolt port to boot Linux allowing me to use the laptop as a personal device on a completely separate drive. All I have to do is F12 at boot, then select boot from USB drive.

However, this laptop is only using 1 of the 2 internal M.2 ports. Can I install Linux on a 2nd M.2 drive? I would want the laptop to normally boot Windows without a trace of the second option unless the drive is specified from the BIOS boot options.

Will this cause any issues with Windows? Will I be messing anything up? For the external drive setup, I installed Linux on a different computer, then transferred the SSD to the external drive. Can I do the same for the M.2 SSD – install Linux on my PC, then transfer that drive to the laptop?

Any thoughts or comments are welcome.

Edit: Thank you everyone! This was a great discussion with a lot of great and thoughtful responses. I really appreciate the replies and all the valuable information and opinions given here.

  • hash
    93•5 months ago

    Forget the technical details. I work in a corporate security department and if yours finds out what you’re doing there’s high odds they would absolutely hate it. I mean it likely isn’t an issue for org security (assuming they’re using bitlocker appropriately etc.) But not everyone over security is so rational and there are edge case attacks which may even trouble more sensible individuals. Either get permission, expect to do this in secret, or better yet just don’t.

    • @jecht360@lemmy.worldEnglish
      40•5 months ago

      Exactly. This is a terrible idea. I’m fairly certain that anyone caught doing this would be immediately fired at some companies.

      • Goku
        5•5 months ago

        Yeah… I really don’t see the motives to do this either. Possibly:

        1. I guess if you’re traveling and you have to bring 2 laptops.

        2. Or you can’t afford a PC with the same specs as your work laptop.

        Both of those situations don’t warrant booting work laptop to external personal HD though.

    • andrewEnglish
      39•5 months ago

      Not to mention you really can’t hide that other drive from windows, and I’m sure a lot of the security tools would start screaming about new storage added when not expected. Data Loss Prevention is a big deal and random storage showing up doesn’t often mean the user has good things planned.

    • 520
      9•5 months ago

      I mean it likely isn’t an issue for org security (assuming they’re using bitlocker appropriately etc.)

      Data loss/leak prevention would vehemently disagree. It’s a potential exfiltration point, especially if the org is blocking USB writes.

      Networking might have a thing or two to say about it as well, as it is essentially an untrusted setup on company networks