Score:-1

Installing a new 4tb hdd not knowing to go for e.g. ext4 or NTFS as a format, some advice please

in flag
Rob

To keep it short and sweet: just bought a 4tb disk to replace a broken one. Not sure to use a linux format a.i. ext4 or NTFS. I will mainly use the disk to store music and films and some (Win-)software and push them on external disks and USB sticks. My main OS is ubuntu 20.04.3LTS, no longer using Windhoos ;-).

Cheers, Rob

ChanganAuto avatar
us flag
If the drive isn't to be use with Windows then choose a EXT4 or other native Linux file system. Otherwise you need NTFS or Windows won't recognize it. Keep in mind you really need Windows if you want to keep NTFS partitions around. Linux has no tools to fix NTFS and error happen, especially in external drives.
cc flag
FAT32 with adjusted sector/cluster size might be an option for the 4T disk, if your films don't exceed the max file size (check for your specific setup).
waltinator avatar
it flag
You could create a couple of partitions, one Linux-native, one NTFS. Windows can use the NTFS, but refuses to see the Linux-native. Linux may be able to r/w NTFS (keep Windows "Fast Boot" OFF), and will have "no trouble" with the Linux-native.
cn flag
If you do not use windows you can not repair the disk when ntfs and damaged. Fixes from other OS can not guarantee a 100% repair. So don't use ntfs if you do not use Windows.
Rob avatar
in flag
Rob
Clear! I will go for the ext format, probably indeed the ext4 as that is the latest, great!
Score:1
in flag
Rob

The answer is that ext will be used since there is no need for any windows based file system and there is no foundation for ntfs. Closed.

Score:1
cz flag

if you're planning to install windows, create a NTFS partition, if don't, you should use either ext4 or brtfs

Rob avatar
in flag
Rob
The question is about the better choice; I think there is not a huge difference (other than the max size hence the format boundaries of both versions of a file system) but I can see where you are coming from and OK, I agree....;-)
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