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    #1

    Old External Drive

    I have read the earlier post, but still have a question. I just bought an external usb 60 gig drive from a friend. But it is loaded full, I know he was using win xp, I just use Kubuntu.

    I would really like to reformat it. but being new to linux, I'm not sure how to do this,

    Oh, I didnt have any problems with Kubuntu seeing it, and it auto mounted with now problems

    Thanks
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    #2
    Re: Old External Drive

    Use adept package manager to install 'gparted'
    Its the partition editor that is used by the live cd when you first installed kubuntu.
    If you've ever used a partition editor before it will be pretty self explanatory what you need to do, otherwise just ask some more follow up questions once you've installed gparted and had a look at it.
    As for what file system to reformat to; either fat32 (if you want windows to be able to access the drive too) or ext3 (just because it is what the kubuntu root partition uses).

    I'm guessing wiping all the data on it is not a problem, if it is then back up the stuff you need elsewhere first.
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      #3
      Re: Old External Drive

      Quick pro-n-con with ext3, FAT32, and NTFS filesystems:

      FAT32 can be read and written to by both Linux and Windows and is well-supported.
      NTFS and ext3 filesystems can be read by both, but some software will need to be installed (and setup done) on the non-native system. Not especially well-supported.

      FAT32 has a 2 GB (I think) limit on files.

      ext3 is a journaling filesystem. This makes recovery from an unclean mount much easier.

      For more, read the Wikipedia articles on the ext3, FAT32, and NTFS filesystems.
      For external use only.
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        #4
        Re: Old External Drive

        Originally posted by SheeEttin
        Quick pro-n-con with ext3, FAT32, and NTFS filesystems:

        FAT32 can be read and written to by both Linux and Windows and is well-supported.
        NTFS and ext3 filesystems can be read by both, but some software will need to be installed (and setup done) on the non-native system. Not especially well-supported.

        FAT32 has a 2 GB (I think) limit on files.

        ext3 is a journaling filesystem. This makes recovery from an unclean mount much easier.

        For more, read the Wikipedia articles on the ext3, FAT32, and NTFS filesystems.
        Thanks,
        I have installed gparted---OK. I installed ext 2, but asked for permissions. So, I tried FAT 32, and it works great but the file size has be bothered though.
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          #5
          Re: Old External Drive

          If you don't plan to be accessing the drive from windows then ext3 is prob the way to go, for permissions issues see
          http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...68684#msg68684
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