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I keep a back-up of all my documents and images on an USB stick. Mostly, I use my Ubuntu PC, but occasionally, I use my Windows 8.1 PC. As a result, I save my files to an USB stick.

For example, I write a document in LibreOffice on Ubuntu and subsequently, I reformat the same document in Microsoft Word, because I like the titles and headings better. The same goes for spellchecking. I read elsewhere on this forum that it can be harmful to use the same USB stick on both a Windows and a Ubuntu computer. I want to know whether Windows files can corrupt Ubuntu files and vice versa?

alternative_be
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    Never had any problem. Might depend on the filesystem used on the stick or might be an urban myth, triggered by a faulty stick (this happens much more often than filesystem bugs...). – xenoid Apr 27 '18 at 11:46
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    I don't think this is primarily opinion based. However @alternative_be, could you please provide a link to what you read that claimed something could be harmed by using the same USB stick? Did you read it could be harmful to the USB, or to one of the operating systems it was used on, or something else? I'm not entirely sure from your question what you are worried about – Zanna Apr 28 '18 at 19:22
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    Welcome to Ask Ubuntu! The issue of writing to the same USB drive using both Ubuntu and Windows is entirely independent of the issue of editing the same document with LibreOffice and Microsoft Office. We’re sorry, but Ask Ubuntu is not a forum, but a Question & Answer site: it works best if you ask one question, so you can receive one answer. When you ask multiple questions, you need to find one expert versed in multiple areas, which becomes unlikelier the more questions you put into, well, one question! ;-) So please, split up your question into multiple questions. Thanks. – David Foerster Apr 28 '18 at 21:56
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    Related question: Windows virus on USB will run on Ubuntu 16.04? – karel Apr 29 '18 at 06:14
  • Would it be possible to merge my question with the question mentioned by @karel, because this is basically really what I wanted to know. – alternative_be Apr 29 '18 at 11:44
  • Because this question was put on hold as primarily opinion-based, not as a duplicate question, there isn't a logical duplicate question to merge it with. – karel Apr 29 '18 at 11:52
  • Oh, so I have to edit the question so it becomes a duplicate question first? – alternative_be Apr 29 '18 at 13:38

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I never had any problem with using the same USB-stick on Windows and Linux.

But I would not trust a USB stick as a backup solution.

With a bad USB stick you can lose your files even if you only use it on the same OS.

Always back up your files to an off-site location with a good storage solution with RAID or a cloud storage solution.

Zanna
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vovven
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  • Thank you for you answer. I asked the question, a highly ranked member on this forum suggested otherwise. Yes, I am aware of Cloud solutions, but I believe in the saying 'better one bird in hand than ten in the wood'. I realize that I am oldschool ;) – alternative_be Apr 27 '18 at 12:03
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    +1 for the warning about backup to a USB stick. But a USB hard disk drive or USB SSD are reliable alternatives for backup. If the data are very important, you should have two backup drives and store one of them in another house to make it safe in case of fire or theft (for example in a friends house or in a bank vault). – sudodus Apr 27 '18 at 14:19
  • @sudodus That is exactly what I do. I keep backups at different places. – alternative_be Apr 27 '18 at 19:31
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    @alternative_be, That is good :-) But pendrives can easily be damaged. They are easy to unplug without unmounting, which can damage the file system, the memory cells have a short lifetime (number of writes) compared to more expensive memory technology and the built-in logic to level wear can be 'overloaded' and fail. Let us say that you have 3 pendrives with backup and rotate them. Then you would be fairly safe. (But I would rather have 2 HDDs or SSDs for backup.) – sudodus Apr 27 '18 at 19:42