linuxmemes

I still need that Windows partition for two reasons:

(1). I need Windows because my audio interface uses a proprietary driver only available on Windows. It simply does not perform as quickly on Linux. It's for real-time audio recording and production, so I need absolutely every clock cycle I can possibly spare. For that reason, a VM is out of the question for this particular application. On Linux with JACK, it uses JACK's default USB audio driver, which is really good but not as fast as the custom driver ostensibly using FocusRite's hidden features. It's not Linux's fault, it's FocusRite's for not supporting Linux and mine for "backing the wrong horse" about ten years ago when I bought it. To my knowledge, Linux pro audio was simply nowhere near as developed as it is now. It is only this exact piece of hardware, which I currently cannot afford to replace, that requires me to keep any copies of Windows alive. Other than for similar reasons where users are trapped, Windows sucks as an audio production operating system, whereas Linux with JACK is great.

(2). I need the Windows partition as it is because there is some old but important work there that I need to finish. I wasn't very organized about where I saved my work, i.e. things are all over the place. Eventually, I have to spend several hours moving the project files and effects off the drive. Since these projects were recorded on Windows, I will probably have to move all my Windows-exclusive effects to Linux. Yabridge actually does an excellent job for this, but it's not painless.

I'm currently in grad school for engineering, so I won't have time to bring over my project files until at least the summer. But even then, all the compatibility layers are starting to add up on Linux. The projects I want to work on were nearly maxing out the CPU and RAM on Windows. Really, I need a hardware upgrade, but I can't afford that for a long time.