The Best Way to Ease into Linux in 2026

Why: Linux is a good way to get more out of your hardware. It runs less “spyware” like monitoring. Itʻs a little less automated. You donʻt need to log into Microsoft or Apple to do things.

How: create an external SSD disk connected over USB-3 to boot the machine. This way, you can reboot into Windows (or MacOS) if you need to.

What: you will need at least one SSD and USB-3 external disk enclosure. You may also need a backup disk, and spend time learning to back up your system manually. You will also need a USB thumb drive to make a bootable disk – anything 8GB and up should be fine.

When: plan to spend a few months to make the transition from Windows or MacOS to Linux. The hardware setup can operate for many years, and you donʻt really need to commit all your hardware to Linux.

Make a Data Backup

This is a relatively difficult process, because you need to understand your file system. Newer users might not be used to managing files. You must learn (because, otherwise, you are dependent on the apps, and the companies that make the apps).

If you use specialized applications for graphics, video, accounting, or anything but the most basic use, you might not want to switch to Linux.

If most of your usage are basic 2000s era tasks, like “office” work (excluding PowerPoint), programming, and web browsing, youʻre a good candidate for transition.

Next, you need to make a backup plan. This is on paper, or in a document, where you list the location of the data, and where it will be copied. If you know how to script this, so you can automate the process, great (you can use a tool like XXCOPY).

Data is typically stored in the Documents and Photos folder. They may also be stored in other folders, typically named after the application. Note all these locations.

Some data is stored inside apps – a password manager, or a browerʻs bookmarks, or an auth appʻs keys, for example. You will need to learn to export that data.

Some data inside apps are keys, passwords, names, paths, etc. You may need to copy-paste that data into a file, for your backup.

(Some applications, like database servers, will need to be shut down before the files are copied. Note this in the backup plan.)

Get a backup disk. What I use is a “disk caddy” and an old hard disk. Usually, Iʻll make two backups.

Another option, if you have enough space on your computer, is to make a backup staging folder, and make the backup into a local folder. Then, copy that to the external disk.

The first backup will take anywhere from a few minutes, to a few days, depending on how much data you have.

When you start out, itʻs ok to base your backups on the plan, and using regular file copies.

Subsequent backups will be faster, as long as you skip over duplicated files. You can also use a tool to perform “diffs” across folders, to find differences, and copy only the changed files. (I havenʻt used a diff tool in years, so I cannot recommend one. The main tools Iʻve used are rsync, or based on rsync.)

After a few weeks, you should have a good backup system.

Make the Disk

You can use a regular HDD and a USB2 external disk enclosure, but itʻll be noticeably slower than an SSD and USB3. In fact, itʻll feel slower than Windows or MacOS. With the faster hardware, itʻll feel almost as fast as having an internal SSD disk.

Download an ISO of MINT Linux, and burn it to the USB thumb drive.

(What to do to burn the ISO.)

Boot into Linux, and then follow these instructions to make a bootable disk.

The system should now boot up from an external SSD.

Starting Up With Linux

Mainly, this is installing application software. When Iʻm setting up more than one computer, I make a to-do-list with all the resources necessary to quickly set up the user environment.

This is my latest setup script, which automates part of my process. I realize this wonʻt make sense to everyone, but my point is to document the work first, then try to do the plan. This way, itʻs easier to restore the system after an installation.

#! /bin/bash

# installing oh-my-zsh
sudo apt install zsh git -y
if [ -e ~/.oh-my-zsh ] ; then
    echo "Oh My Zsh installed, skipping"
else
    echo "Installing Oh My Zsh"
    sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"
fi

# hook in the aliases
cp zsh-aliases ~/.zsh-aliases
if ( grep -q "source ~/.zsh-aliases" ~/.zshrc ) ; then
    echo "Aliases sourcing exists, skipping"
else
    echo "Adding alias sources to .zshrc"
    echo "source ~/.zsh-aliases" >> ~/.zshrc
fi

# restore certs directoy

# increase file watchers for resilio sync
echo fs.inotify.max_user_watches=250000 | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

# install protonmail bridge
if [ -e /usr/bin/protonmail-bridge ] ; then
    echo "Protonmail Bridge installed."
else
    echo "Install Protonmail Bridge"
    firefox-bin https://proton.me/mail/bridge
fi

#cp -ar ~/certs certs
#cp -ar ~/.ssh ssh
if [ -e thunderbird ] ; then
  echo "Copying thunderbird directory"
  cp -ar thunderbird ~/.thunderbird
fi
# cp -ar ~/bin bin

Repairing Linux Boot

Sometimes, you have problems booting. This has less to do with the external disk, and more to do with the rapid pace of Linux updates, which sometimes break. Usually, they fix it quickly, but some people get caught up in the mess, and end up with a non-booting computer. This has happened to me twice in the past 10 years or so.

The short answer is: use the bootable thumb drive. On it are recovery tools to repair the booting sequence.

You can also do a manual repair.

After repairing, do a software update.