Before I install Arch on bare metal...few questions

[Linux for blind general discussion]

On Thu, Jan 20, 2022 at 12:12:54AM +0000, Linux for blind general discussion wrote:
> So, as it says. I very much like my Arch VM.
>
> And I've done a ton of installs on a qemu VM, though I'm now thinking of
> switching to bare metalso I can tweak my system how I want.
>
>
> So....before I do this.
>
> 1. I'm worried something'll go wrong in the archinstall script, or the
> manual install and nuke my (currently working) system

if you are careful when partitioning the disk, then this will not happen.

> 2. Will my USB headphones be connected out of the box or not? On a VM they
> are but that doesn't mean a thing when it comes to bare metal

I think yes. if not please email me at alex19ep at archlinux.org

> 3. I have two machines, one's /dev/sda, which I'm assuming will likely
> install fine, hopefully
>
>
> THe other, a laptop, is /dev/nvme, which is what I'm worried about. Anything
> special I need for Arch to install on an NVME?

no. but I recommend to read archwiki page about nvme.

> 4. Can I with two HDD, /dev/sda (my current Solus system)wor and /dev/sdb (a
> 2.7T drive), install Arch on /dev/sdb and pick and choose which distro to
> boot? I remember  way to do a console command to reboot and have Grub select
> which to boot up, but I'm not sure if that's still a thing?

sure you can. if you have efi, then it will be very simple.

> 5. Was there ever a consensus on how often to do a pacman -Syyu in Arch?

as often as you need it. the only problem is that if you do not update
system for a very long time (for example, a year), then later it can
be a little more difficult to do.

--
Sincerely, Alexander