penny-farthing Does the fact that you have not cloned anything for a long time mean that you prefer to reinstall the system?
Not necessarily. It's been so long that I no longer remember what caused me to do that. You're right about the main differences between a clone and a fresh install. The clone is a bytewise copy of the source, resulting in a destination that may have some or all the same problems the original did, but simply more unused space.
There's something very satisfying about doing a fresh install of the system. That's been true for me, even when it was an accumulation of errors that made it necessary. I usually implement structural changes that would have been too much work to apply to a working system (like a larger swap paartition to allow hibernating) but are trivial when a new system is created. In my experience, there are always a few things I'd like to do differently when I reinstall a system.
penny-farthing However, it is true that by not having done the same, I have not encountered any particular problem with Windows.
Keep in mind that methods of dual-booting have changed a lot over the decades, as computer components and peripherals have evolved. It's entirely possible that it's no longer an issue with modern equipment and practices. Windows used to be a greedy beast.
penny-farthing I know your position on the use of Windows in VirtualBox that I understand.
Then please also understand that I'm not trying to make a convert of you. I made that comment only to explain why I'm not more conversant regarding modern dual booting. I simply prefer not to do it. For the most part, I have no need for Windows anymore, although nearly my whole career was spent creating enterprise Windows software. Even then, Windows was only on my computers at the office, and Linux only on my computers at home. And being retired, I no longer need the Windows computers.
I still have one computer at home that runs Windows to stream content to my TV, but it's not because Windows is any better for that task. It's because Windows came on that machine when I bought it, and the only application I ever run on it is Vivaldi, which syncs with Vivaldi on all my Linux machines. It's not worth the time and trouble to chaange the OS. It ain't broke, so I ain't fixed it..
