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.

    • StorageB@lemmy.oneOPEnglish
      3·
      9 months ago

      From a technical perspective I’m curious - how would they know a drive has been added without physically inspecting the laptop?

      • astraeus@programming.dev
        14·
        9 months ago

        Microsoft system administrators have full access to any physical device information, this includes a report on new internal devices or changes. Your company may not be so serious about security, but why on earth are you willing to risk your livelihood on this?

        • w2tpmf@lemmy.world
          10·
          9 months ago

          Not just Windows sys admins … I have this access to MacBooks, tablets, and phones in my company.

          Windows, MacOS, Linux, iOS, Android … If it’s in use in an enterprise environment that knows what they’re doing, they have full access to the device.

      • BetaDoggo_@lemmy.world
        8·
        9 months ago

        The drive is visible to the OS so if they have any kind of management software in place which looks for hardware changes it will be noticed.

      • 520@kbin.social
        7·
        9 months ago

        Intel IME can snitch on this kind of thing. Completely independent of the OS too.

      • WarmSoda@lemm.ee
        3·
        9 months ago

        I’m glad you asked, people provided some great answers.

        Good rule of thumb is just don’t mess with company property at all, cuz they’ll know. For example I simply turned a wall TV on one weekend so my skeleton crew had something to do, and I was asked why a few days later. If it’s electronic they can track it.