How to install Ubuntu to dual boot Inspiron 5770 w/Optane

Question

Has anyone successfully installed Ubuntu to create a dual boot environment (Linux & Windows 10) on an Inspiron 5770, which has a 16gig Optane drive ?

If so what are the steps?

It is my understanding the 16gig Optane drive (Intel Rapid Storage Technology) must have the BIOS's SATA mode set to "RAID", but that doing so will prevent Linux from being installed.

In a perfect world, I would like to shrink Windows use of the 1TB Sata drive to 500mb, leaving space for Linux to be installed on the HDD and to continue using the Optane drive in Windows 10 (where its used as a disk-cache system). If this isn't possible, then I'd be OK with not using the OPTANE disk at all.

Has anyone done either of these?

jphughan · Answer

You’re correct that using Optane requires RAID mode, so unless Ubuntu has drivers to support that mode, you can’t dual boot Windows and Linux while using Optane, because Optane requires RAID and Linux requires AHCI. Unfortunately, switching to AHCI will break your existing Windows installation that’s set up for RAID mode. Normally you only change that setting before performing a clean OS install. I’ve read that there are ways to switch this mode on a 'live' Windows installation to avoid that, but I haven’t tested them. They involve going into Safe Mode and jumping through a few hoops. If possible, disable a Optane acceleration in Windows before making this switch.

TRB-48 · Answer

Thank you for the reply.

I too have heard of changing an existing Windows 10 install from "RAID" to "AHCI"

(https://davidvielmetter.com/tricks/installing-ubuntu-dual-boot-on-a-dell-precision-which-already-runs-windows-10/) , but I wanted to know if anyone had specific experience with this configuration.

It is a friend's computer that they want me to help setup dual-boot, and I didn't want to blow their Windows installation.

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How to install Ubuntu to dual boot Inspiron 5770 w/Optane

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