0

I planning to by a 1TB portable external hard disk. I have a budget of Rs 6000( US $136 approx. ) . How do I check the external hard disk that I purchase would support operations for multiple OS's( especially linux ).

For e.g. I referred to this offer from ebay:-

http://cgi.ebay.in/1TB-W-D-3-0-Passport-External-Portable-Hard-Disk-BILL-/260763580999?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_203&hash=item3cb6b87a47#ht_3869wt_1141

This and many similar offers never have any mention of whether or not they support Linux OS. I could see that they support Mac OS.

I am planning to reserve around 450 GB for Ubuntu and say remaining 450 for use with either Windows 7/XP . Would I be able to successfully implement this scenario?

Can I boot Ubuntu directly from this hard disk? Or if not, can this external hard disk be used as a mount point for more than machines which have the same version of Ubuntu installed on it( this would serve the purpose like a normal usb pen drive, right?). In my case I specifically have a PC and a laptop both having Ubuntu 10.04 OS Installed on it. The only diff is that the PC has Win XP installed and the Laptop has Win 7 installed.

Can you please help me on this and suggest me on what features do I need to look in for when I would be purchasing an external hard disk and would want to use it for the above scenario.

In any case if the above scenario can't be implemented, could you please suggest alternative best solutions which can be considered.

Thank you..

andrew.46
  • 38,003
  • 27
  • 156
  • 232
boddhisattva
  • 153

1 Answers1

4

I have never seen an external hard disk which is incompatible with Ubuntu. Most external HDD's work "plug & play". The software (or crapware) delivered with the package might not be compatible, but it does not matter.

The software delivered with that external HDD:

  • encryption software, alternative: LUKS
  • SmartWare (backup software?), alternative: deja-dup (front-end of duplicity)
  • In some cases, partitioning software is included, the alternative would be GParted

To get the full power out of it, I recommend formatting the Linux partition ext4 and the Windows one NTFS. You can use GParted for that.

Ubuntu can be booted from external HDD's, you might need to enable booting from USB drives in your BIOS or change the booting order to make the external HDD be booted before the internal one.

Community
  • 1
Lekensteyn
  • 174,277
  • @Lekensteyn: Thanks for your enlightening answer..:) – boddhisattva Apr 09 '11 at 09:06
  • Just wanted to clarify if using the external hdd for Win XP/7 simultaneously wouldn't be a problem..? . I guess not.. just wanted to confirm on this... . Also just of curiosity... say some time in the future I would want to use this external HDD as the one in the link for Mac OS, do I need to initially take any precautions for the same for its use later on ..? . 1 obvious thing based on the above ques. cud b create 3 partitions instead of 2 right..? . If thts the optimum sol. until I really am using this OS(mac os) that space would be idle right? any better alternatives or other feasibilities? – boddhisattva Apr 09 '11 at 09:17
  • @boddhisattva: Using the external HDD with WinXP/Win7/Ubuntu simultaneously won't be a problem. MacOSX offers read-only access to NTFS filesystems by default, with the NTFS-3G driver (used by Ubuntu as well), you can write to it too. – Lekensteyn Apr 09 '11 at 09:29
  • @Lekensteyn - but the hdd of WD mentioned in the link says it has support for Mac OS. Did they mean read only? . If yes.. I guess they would have explicitly specified it.. right..? . Is it a marketing strategy.. ? – boddhisattva Apr 09 '11 at 09:44
  • @boddhisattva: there are other filesystems out there, most external drives are formatted FAT32, which has a volume limit of 2TB. But this one is NTFS (as noted on the page) and requires reformatting for the Mac: "Requires reformatting for Mac OS X Leopard, Snow Leopard" – Lekensteyn Apr 09 '11 at 09:49
  • @Lekensteyn: so basically wht they mean is tht it can be use for read n write purpose, only thing one would have to do is format the entire hard disk before use right..? . – boddhisattva Apr 09 '11 at 09:58
  • @boddhisattva: unfortunately, most computers are using Windows, so they will choose to give their best support to it and format their drives NTFS because FAT32 is considered obsolete. They mention MacOSX because it's getting popular too, but as MacOSX does not support NTFS, they make an explicit note that the drive needs reformatting for Mac OS X. – Lekensteyn Apr 09 '11 at 10:04
  • @Lekensteyn - so once its reformatted , it could be used to support only mac os ? For both read and write operations..? Then support for xp & mac would never be feasible from the very first day.. but based on wht u mentioned.. linux and mac support shouldn't be a problem right..? – boddhisattva Apr 09 '11 at 10:38
  • @boddhisattva: reading won't be a problem, writing needs more work. If you want to support Linux, Mac and Windows for data storage without installing additional software, format it FAT32. I do not recommend that for storing videos as it has a file size limit of 4GB. Neither should you use it for installing an OS on it since Linux file permissions work only with an ext filesystem like EXT4 and Windows needs NTFS (for symbolic links for example). See also Cross-platform file system – Lekensteyn Apr 09 '11 at 12:33
  • @Lekensteyn - Thanks for the info.. I had one last question which was part of my post too.. Its something like this.. can I use this hard disk as a mount point on multiple machines? For e.g. in my case.. I have a Desktop and a Laptop, both have Ubuntu 10.04 OS's installed. At a certain stage , when you internal hard disk space is occupied to a large extent, installation of files into such disks/drives is no longer feasible .. right..? so, at in such situations I could use an external hard disk and make appropriate changes to d default installation path frm the internal 2 d external disk right? – boddhisattva Apr 11 '11 at 04:44
  • @boddhisattva: So, you want to use your external HDD as an extension of your applications directory (/sbin, /usr, /bin, ...)? You cannot just "change the installation target" because many programs makes assumptions on the installation directory of applications. [LVM](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_Volume_Manager_(Linux%29) can combine multiple physical volumes into one Logical volume (see also Ubuntu Wiki). I've not this feature although I'm using LVM. If you're worried about disk space, buy a bigger internal HDD because of the performance hit on externals. – Lekensteyn Apr 11 '11 at 12:40
  • @Lekensteyn: Sorry for replyin in late, yes I would want to. Very true , what you mentioned about most applications having a default installation path for them to be setup and since most installation in Ubuntu linux happen either through the Synaptic Package Manager or through commands given on the terminal, thus, customizing the default installation path would always be a concern and not feasible in most cases. In this scenario, I guess the only feasible option would be to increase the space wrt the default path whr the directories are present of may be some directories can b mounted from.. – boddhisattva Apr 12 '11 at 05:30
  • ..another mount point.. . Here is where , I would love an external hard disk to come in to play. I have also asked a question(http://askubuntu.com/questions/27850/changing-the-default-installation-path-to-a-newly-installed-hard-disk) on the same on this portal, but I had to deviate away from my main question posted due to the time by which I had to fix this was very limited. But now again this is something I really want to completely understand, on what could be the best approach to fix this situation/scenario. Your views on this..?? – boddhisattva Apr 12 '11 at 05:44
  • @Lekensteyn:- These are quotes from the WD Site wrt their products.."Western Digital technical support only provides jumper configuration (for EIDE hard drive) and physical installation support for hard drives used in systems running the Linux/Unix operating systems. For setup or other questions beyond physical installation of your Western Digital hard drive, please contact your Linux/Unix vendor. You may also wish to discuss your issue on our Community Forums." I don't completely understand what they are trying to say.. would the above quotes serve my purpose..?. Thanks for continuous support – boddhisattva Apr 22 '11 at 13:49
  • If you experience mechanical failure with the drive, WD will help. In the case of software issues (filesystem formatting), it will be your own responsibility. The same could be said of Windows as well, but as the products are generally fully compatible with modern Windows OS'es, they've omitted it. – Lekensteyn Apr 25 '11 at 10:18
  • @Lekensteyn: so based on your comment , Can I infer that compatibility shouldn't be an issue, its just that I need to be careful while formatting it for use say in case of multiple OS's. Are they trying to say that any operation that we perform wrt the data( formatting/partitioning etc. ), in that context data losses while trying the same is not their responsibility. If so , it sound fair enough/justified to me.. . The onus is on us how we play around with the hdd but if doesn't work/detect then we can get hold of them for it.. right..? – boddhisattva Apr 27 '11 at 04:54
  • @boddhisattva: I think you've understood it. If the disk has mechanical errors, the manufacturer should take it back. If there are issues with partitioning, it's your responsibility. – Lekensteyn Apr 27 '11 at 15:15
  • @Lekensteyn: Thanks a lot , your really have been of great help!!. – boddhisattva Apr 28 '11 at 05:06