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I'm a rookie in the Ubuntu world but want to learn.

I have a media server running Windows 7: four physical drives containing movies. I want to convert the media server to a simple Ubuntu machine. The system drive is separate, so it's easy to change the operating system.

My question is about the three other drives - they are NTFS.

Is it OK to keep them like this? Do I need to convert them? They are almost full :)

I guess I can back them up, one by one, to a temporary external drive if necessary...

Zanna
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Ukrop
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    You don't need to convert these disks, because Ubuntu can read them. Just be careful when you will install Ubuntu. To avoid any damage, disconnect them before doing install in your system disk. After that, reconnect them following this issue Follow just fstab alternative. – Redbob Oct 03 '17 at 04:03
  • You can read and write NTFS partitions without issue but you will not have Linux permissions, and they can be hard to maintain: https://askubuntu.com/questions/47700/fix-corrupt-ntfs-partition-without-windows https://askubuntu.com/questions/319653/how-can-i-defrag-an-ntfs-hard-drive-from-ubuntu – Takkat Oct 03 '17 at 08:47

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EXT4 theoretically performs better than NTFS but full read-write support for NTFS is built into Ubuntu, so you shouldn't have any problems with the existing setup, providing you take appropriate newbie precautions when configuring your installation. This includes making sure that the drives are properly closed by windows by performing a full shutdown before booting into a live disk, and as suggested by @Redbob, it's a good idea to disconnect all data-crucial media when performing a new installation to avoid accidental formatting.

Please see related questions for a comparison of NTFS and EXT4 (the default for the current version of Ubuntu)

Why ext4 File System is better than NTFS?

Alexander F
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  • Thanks! Just one last clarifying question: would you recommend converting that drives into ext4 eventually? (my internal voice says 'yes') :) – Ukrop Oct 03 '17 at 05:08
  • It depends on your intentions, despite its pitfalls, NTFS is an older and more compatible filesystem than EXT4. If you solely intend to use linux here on out (as much as I love it, your feelings might waver) then most certainly. However, if you plan on accessing the drives from Windows or macOS down the track, you'll have a fair bit of fun trying to mount them even as network shares haha. – Alexander F Oct 03 '17 at 05:45