Ubuntu

How Use External USB Drive in Ubuntu 10.04

Asked by Wesley Michael

I have a 1Tb USB drive that I used to use on my Windows XP machine. It is currently formated with one big FAT32 partition. This was because I also used it on my PS3 and the PS3 will only read FAT32 filesystems.

So, now I have a new machine where I have loaded Ubuntu 10.04. This machine only has a small 40 Gb drive it in. (I am so old that I remember when I got 2Gb drives on my SunOS machine and thought I was living high on the hog, but I digress). I wanted to use this USB drive on the Ubuntu machine to hold development work areas. But, when I tried, I got all sorts of errors. Among them, I cannot create symbolic links and cannot change the owndership of files.

So, what I was wondering was, if I reformat this drive will I be able to use it? Is there a format that will still allow me to still connect it to my Windows XP machine? Is it possible to mount a network drive on a Windows XP from a Ubuntu machine or do I have to unplug it from one machine and plug it into the other?

Thanks for your help.

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
Ubuntu Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Solved by:
Vitaliy Kulikov
Solved:
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

FAT32 is too primitive to store symlinks but can be linked to from ext3/4/whatever

What procedure do you use to remove the device from systems when you want to use it in another PC?

Revision history for this message
Wesley Michael (wam-zoominternet) said : 		#2

I take it from your comment that if I reformat the divice I should be able to use it like any other drive?

If I moved it, I would probably click on the icon on the desktop to take it off-line, or shut down the machine. I don't really want to move it -- I would much rather just mount it as a network drive on the Windows XP machine when I had to access some files on it.

Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#3

Just making sure you aren't simply ripping the drive from the system, FAT32 is not robust enough to withstand that sort of stuff.

You can share the drive in windows and access the share via samba. I suggest you use the windows system to chkdsk the partition to make sure it is healthy.

Revision history for this message
Wesley Michael (wam-zoominternet) said : 		#4

Ok, I went ahead and formatted the drive as ext4. I then created a directory on the drive owned by me and was able to share it. I mounted that directory on my Windows XP machine, so I have what I need.

Thanks for your help.

Now, another question while I am on this. Can I just add an entry to /etc/fstab for this device so that I can mount it were I want it and it doesn't show up under /Media, or is that the way it has to be?

Revision history for this message
Best Vitaliy Kulikov (slonua) said : 		#5

yep you can:

/dev/sdb<!?> /data ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1

$ man fstab

Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#6

Your PS3 won't read ext4.

Revision history for this message
Wesley Michael (wam-zoominternet) said : 		#7

Thanks Vitaliy Kulikov, that solved my question.