how to wipe a external drive

[fleamailman]

it has a kubuntu install because it is my old drive of this computer, I just want to wipe and format in ntsf for storage like a usb key

it there already the app on the kubuntu system where I can do the above, thanks

[dibl]

Re: how to wipe a external drive

If it is seen by GParted when it is connected to your system, then that would seem to be the obvious approach to me. Run Gparted, change to that drive, and "delete" the existing partition(s). I forget whether GParted offers an NTFS formatting option -- if not, boot Win XP, and "format E:" (or whatever the Windows drive letter turns out to be.

[fleamailman]

Re: how to wipe a external drive

thanks but I have no windows installed, also where is gparted on the kubuntu install, and if not ntfs is that another format on kubuntu that I can use to share with other platforms

[dibl]

Re: how to wipe a external drive

On my Feisty Kubuntu system, it appears as KMenu>System>Gnome Partition Editor. But to be honest, I don't remember whether it is installed by default, or whether I "apt-got" it. So if you don't have it, just

sudo apt-get install gparted

and you should be in business. I also keep a GParted Live CD close by -- I actually prefer to boot that when I'm playing God with my disk drives. It is available as an ISO for download from here.

I just made a new Live CD earlier this week with that latest version 0.3.4-8 and used it on a brand new hard drive -- it works great.

So, I just opened GParted from my Kubuntu system, pointed it to a partition that I don't love, right-clicked on the highlighted partition and selected "format to". It showed me a list of choices, and "ntfs" is on the list, but grayed out. I'm not sure exactly what that indicates -- beyond the fact that I can't use it to format ntfs. However, "FAT32" is on the list of available choices -- that would be a reasonable choice for sharing files with both Linux and Windows systems.

[fleamailman]

Re: how to wipe a external drive

OK, I am on to it, thanks

[eriefisher]

Re: how to wipe a external drive

If you don't have a windows installation then just format it to EXT3. It's a better choice over fat32. Better file system. Fat32 limits file size to 2gig I think which may or may not be a problem but ext3 is still a better file system.

[fleamailman]

Re: how to wipe a external drive

thanks, it is 6gb and although I will probably have to change it to ntfs a later date since there are time when I must use windozs, now I will format in EXT3 in order to learn.

[penguin.ch]

Re: how to wipe a external drive

will probably have to change it to ntfs a later date since there are time when I must use windozs

FAT32 / VFAT actually is a Windoze file system

[fleamailman]

Re: how to wipe a external drive

yes and I didn't know about the size limit thing of 2gb since I feel that I have formatted in fat32 before