What HDD format to use for shared drive

[Maccer101]

I want an internal shared storage drive that both Ubuntu and Vista can access, music, pictures, video, etc. Would Fat32 be the format of choice?

Vista cannot read ext3 (ubuntu OS format) can it?

thanks

[kidzer]

Windows can't read ext3 nativley, no.

FAT32 can be read by Windows and Linuxes, and NTFS support is now pretty solid in my experience- but yeah, FAT32 would be your best (and safest I guess) bet.

[directhex]

there's a third party driver for xp to allow it to read ext2 volumes (and ext3 by extension)

but generally speaking, go with ntfs or fat32

[Maccer101]

So can Ubuntu 8.04 can read NTFS formatt?

Cool I thought it couldn't, would prefer NTFS overall, might need to experiement I guess.

[Jay]

The issue with FAT32 is that you can not apply file permision on a user base.

[directhex]

The issue with FAT32 is that you can not apply file permision on a user base.

or store files over 2 gig

ubuntu 8.04 reads & writes ntfs fine.

[shadowmaster]

or store files over 2 gig

Isn't it 4gb?

[directhex]

Isn't it 4gb?

meh. some limit that's smaller than you need these days

[Agent]

http://www.fs-driver.org/index.html

Will probably be useful for accessing the Ubuntu bit under Windows

[aidanjt]

Yeah, I'd recommend not using that whereever possible. Windows filesystem support is infinitely better on Linux than Linux filesystem support is on Windows.

[directhex]

Yeah, I'd recommend not using that whereever possible. Windows filesystem support is infinitely better on Linux than Linux filesystem support is on Windows.

i've had it used... accidentally... before. windows update selects a drive with the most free space, and unpacks to a random folder in the root of it. in my case, that has been my L: drive

[Maccer101]

Okay need a bit of clarification as want to make it as simple as possilbe for myself.

Ubuntu OS will be installed on ext3 format, as this is necessary I believe.

BUT can I read/write/create data files in Ubuntu that are stored on a shared drive as NTFS format?

I would prefer for Linux to have to read the windows format as my primary data creation/storage is done on a Windows system.

the Fat32 limit is 4gb btw

[Craig321]

Yes, Ubuntu can read/write/create files on a NTFS partition.

[directhex]

Ubuntu OS will be installed on ext3 format, as this is necessary I believe.

you can install ubuntu to any file system with a unix permission system, which is bootable by GRUB. ext3 is the default, but you can go for JFS or XFS or ReiserFS or others if you want. to. but this is probably confusing the issue.

BUT can I read/write/create data files in Ubuntu that are stored on a shared drive as NTFS format?

jms@osc-franzibald:~$ rm /media/WindowsXP/Program\ Files/Steam/ClientRegistry.blob
jms@osc-franzibald:~$

yes.

I would prefer for Linux to have to read the windows format as my primary data creation/storage is done on a Windows system.

then do it

the Fat32 limit is 4gb btw

yeah, but a modern mmo client download could easily be 8 gig or more, and 4 gig is too small for a dvd image, so it's a broadly useless FS these days

[Maccer101]

Many thanks for clearing this up

[Lourdes]

I always go with NTFS, works okay under Linux.