Believe it or not, some people install Linux manually, by mounting a blank hard drive, compiling code, and copying files. Technically speaking, you don't actually need an installer to install applications or even operating systems. More importantly, all existing data on your drive is, at least by default, erased to make room for the new system, so creating a backup is essential.
When you install an operating system, some special files are installed into places on your drive that are normally off-limits. This is significant because it's possible to partition a hard drive into separate spaces (Apple used this trick back in the early '00s for what they called "Bootcamp", allowing users to install both macOS and Windows onto a drive, but as separate entities). When it's an application being installed, the valid locations for those files are highly restricted to your file system or the part of your hard drive that your operating system knows it can use. Regardless of any user interface or animations used to disguise the procedure as something highly specialized, it all amounts to the same thing in the end: Files that were once stored on a disc or drive are copied to specific locations on your hard drive. Whether you're installing just an application or a whole operating system, the process of installation is just a fancy way to copy files from one medium to another.
Linux distributions know this, and so they've worked diligently over the years to reduce the time you spend in the OS installer down to the absolute minimum. It's something of a puzzle to most people: Installing an OS can't happen from inside the OS because it either hasn't been installed, or it's about to be replaced by a different one, so how does it happen? And worse yet, it usually involves confusing questions about hard drive formats, install destinations, time zones, user names, passwords, and a bunch of other stuff that you just don't normally think about. Installing an operating system (OS) is always daunting. In this series, I'll share 21 different reasons to use Linux. In 2021, there are more reasons why people love Linux than ever before.
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