Can I share an external drive with dual boot Windows and Linux

Question

I installed a dual boot with Windows 11 and Ubuntu 22.04. I want to keep my work on an external hard drive, but I need both windows and Ubuntu to be able to run and adjust those files.

I was told Fat would not work with anything larger then 4mb. My files are bigger than that. I also read the option to convert all my files but then I would be converting every time I switched systems...

Is there a way, format, etc that I can use that would work back and forth between both systems. My current issue is most of the projects are in WMV.

Use a filesystem understood by both systems, NTFS. Disable all Windows' "Fast Boot" options (and recheck - some Windows updates re-enable "Fast Boot"). "Fast Boot" leaves the disk confusing to Linux. The difference in text file line endings (LF, ^J, Linefeed) on Linux, (CR ^M, Carriage Return followed by LF, ^J, Linefeed), CRLF on Windows. Common executables? No. — waltinator, Apr 05 '23 at 20:03
This is a valid question. Could anyone explain, why they want to close it? The OP researched, is new to the system and is elaborate. The tendency to close questions increased over the years. We should welcome people, not reject them — kanehekili, Apr 05 '23 at 23:24
Hard to help when you do not even know what version of Ubuntu you installed. — David, Apr 06 '23 at 07:51
Well, the post do ask a number of unrelated questions. I've edited to focus on the one mentioned in the title. — Artur Meinild, Apr 06 '23 at 08:28
Does this answer your question? Which file system do I select for sharing files between Windows and Ubuntu? — Artur Meinild, Apr 06 '23 at 08:30

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 06 '23 at 08:45

I was told Fat would not work with anything larger then 4mb.

No.The limit is 4Gb.

I also read the option to convert all my files but then I would be converting every time I switched systems...

There never was a need for converting files. You convert your partition; that can be done using gparted and is pretty safe ... but making a backup prior would be wise: it is totally possible to mess it up with 1 wrong click.

Can I share an external drive with dual boot Windows and Linux

Yes, the goto format for this is exFAT. More devices and operating systems support it (Windows, Linux, Mac,Android) than NTFS . exFAT is optimal for flashdrives. NTFS is more for internal hard drives using Windows.

If not already installed you can install support for it with

sudo apt-get install exfat-fuse exfat-utils

Manual mounting is as simple as:

sudo mount -t exfat /dev/sdb1 /media/disk1

where sdb1 (1 is partition, b is the 2nd device; so 1 hard dis, and the external is the 2nd one. It will be c if there are 2 other devices etc.) is your device (df -H or fdisk -l will show you what it is for your disk) and mountpoint "disk1" needs to be created one time (ie. mkdir /media/disk1; change the name to what you like but try to avoid special characters).

Can I share an external drive with dual boot Windows and Linux

1 Answers1