NotebookForums.com › Forums › General Notebook Discussions › Linux & Other OS's › External Hard Drive
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

External Hard Drive

post #1 of 12
11/23/07 at 7:43pm
Thread Starter 
So yeah, just bought a 500 gb external.

wondering if i should keep it fat32, change it to ntfs or maybe something else?

i doubt ill keep it as fat32 b/c i have some really large files (over 10 gb). also i use it on windows... is ntfs my only option? is ext even a viable option?
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 12
11/23/07 at 7:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BIGEE1212 View Post
So yeah, just bought a 500 gb external.

wondering if i should keep it fat32, change it to ntfs or maybe something else?

i doubt ill keep it as fat32 b/c i have some really large files (over 10 gb). also i use it on windows... is ntfs my only option? is ext even a viable option?
NTFS. Then use NTFS-3g
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 12
11/23/07 at 8:55pm
You can format it as EXT-3 and use IFS drives to read it in Windows.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 12
12/3/07 at 12:03pm
Ubuntu 7.10 reads and writes NTFS now. You could also partition the HDD. Part Fat32 and part NTFS.
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 12
12/16/07 at 3:02am
I have always used FAT32 for external drive if I want to access them from Linux and XP. I have a seperate NTFS partitions for XP. I only use NTFS if I am certain I don't want to view or modify files from Linux.
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 12
12/17/07 at 2:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by precipice View Post
I have always used FAT32 for external drive if I want to access them from Linux and XP. I have a seperate NTFS partitions for XP. I only use NTFS if I am certain I don't want to view or modify files from Linux.
ntfs can be fully read and written from linux now, so these days its a moot point
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 12
12/18/07 at 6:17am
Yeah, but sometimes I have to support legacy systems with versions of Linux that do not support ntfs, so the point, in this case, is not so moot. There are some legacy post production systems that use older Linux kernels, and the system owners often do not want any changes made to their systems, but I do need data from them, so fat32 most always works fine for my external drive.
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 12
12/26/07 at 12:00am
If you can install stuff on the Windows machines to which you'd be connecting this drive, then format with two partitions: a small (25 MB) partition with the IFS drivers for Windows, then use ext3 or ext2 on the remainder.

If you cannot install things, then just use multiple fat32 partitions and use something such as 7zip or tar to split the files. Unfortunately, you'll have to extract them to a filesystem that can support > 4 GB file size.
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 12
8/21/08 at 2:01am
Just format it through windows (ntfs), linux will be able to read it fine.
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 12
8/21/08 at 5:26am

Old linux versions - ext hard drive

Quote:
Originally Posted by boac View Post
Just format it through windows (ntfs), linux will be able to read it fine.
True for newer Linux distros, but not possible on some older systems I work on where I can't install newer Linux version or drivers. In this case, I am usually dealing with dpx files between 12 and 70mb in size, so fat32 is okay for this.
Lately, with newer systems, I use ntfs as you suggest, and I am experimenting with xfs as well.
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 12
8/26/08 at 2:02am
*wonering why this tread got bumped by someone with 1 post....*
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 12
8/27/08 at 3:26pm
if it is E-Sata it will be fast because that is what is mine you could change it to NTFS and it will work well for you
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Linux & Other OS's
NotebookForums.com › Forums › General Notebook Discussions › Linux & Other OS's › External Hard Drive