Is it possible to install several, or rather different distributions of Linux OS on one hard drive?

Question

linux

Hello, I have a few questions:
1. Because. I have not used Linux OS before, I want to install Linux OS on one hard drive, or rather different distributions such as: Ubuntu , Arch Linux ... for familiarization / study in practice and I would like to know if this is possible and will it cause in the future any negative consequences ?
2. I plan to buy a separate hard drive for the above mentioned Linux OS. I found out that under the OS it is desirable / better to use an SSD, but since. my budget is limited at the moment (5-6000 rubles), I think it would be better if I buy a hard drive (HDD), and later I will buy an SSD. But I faced not an easy choice, but which hard drive is better to buy?!
I liked several HDDs, but I can't decide which one to choose?
- Western Digital Red, HDD 1TB (WD10EFRX)
- Western Digital WD Se 1 TB (WD1002F9YZ)
Yes, in the future I plan to use the HDD to store files: videos, pictures ... and reinstall the OS on the SDD, which I plan to buy later:
I wanted to Would like to know your opinion/advice/criticism? ツ

Answer 1

A virtual machine is quite suitable for dating.

Answer 2

A little about disk division.
For starters, you can not go deep into dividing a disk into many partitions, but something is definitely worth doing.
Create one partition for swap - it can be used for both systems. the root partition ( / ) is definitely separate for each system. /home can have one for two systems, or for each separate one, but for starters it will be easier with different ones. You can also make a separate partition with data, which will be mounted in both systems.
Total:
1-2 partitions - / for each system (20Gb is usually enough)
3 partition - swap (one for both systems, size depends on memory, but in most cases 1-2Gb is more than enough)
4-5 partitions - /home (I would start with two independent sections, not too big)
6th partition - with data (mount wherever you want, for example, in / mnt, / media or even / home / username / foldername)
It is good practice to move /var to a separate partition so that log overflow does not greatly interfere with the system, but for a start it is redundant. You can always create a couple more partitions later and mount them in / var
If you have mbr markup, then 1-3 partitions are basic, then the extended partition is divided into the required number. If gpt is just a bunch of partitions.

Answer 3

Of the two proposed, definitely Western Digital WD Se 1 TB (WD1002F9YZ), because it has a speed of 7200, and the first one has 5400. Of course, an SSD will be better, but for starters, you can also use a regular HDD. The disk will be divided into two logical ones, under Ubuntu and Arch. Install. I don't see any problems. More details can be found here.

Answer 4

Can. I myself have been using 4 distributions on one HDD for several years

Answer 5

Installing the next Linux on a physical disk, due to inattention, the easiest way is to screw up the entire system, which will spoil the whole impression of the system.
I strongly recommend installing them as virtual machines, because you can always roll back or even remove the entire OS with a simple operation in the virtual machine manager.
If you follow the advice that Dmitry gave , then due to the additional complexity in installation and maintenance, difficulties may arise. When installing in a virtual machine, it is enough to allocate 20 GB of space for the entire system. If necessary, you can use the space on the physical volume by connecting it as an external folder (how it depends on the virtual manager).
It is easier to start your first acquaintance with systems that do not require installation. They are called Live CDs. Let's say Knoppix . There is a lot of software installed by default, but the downside is that there is no way to install additional software in addition to the working session (there is no persistence) and the settings need to be saved to a USB flash drive.
For a virtual machine, 750 MB, or even less, may be enough.

Answer 6

1. You can install several operating systems on one disk
2. There is no Linux OS. There are OSes based on the Linux kernel, mostly GNU / Linux distributions, but in addition there is Alpine that lives without bent strapping, there is Android Linux, there is OpenWRT Linux (on x86 for special perverts).

Answer 7

Here is a comparison of WD Se and WD Red. However, I would advise WD Re :) if finances allow :)