Formatting an external hard drive with Ubuntu

strifemaster · 04-19-2009, 08:28 PM

I'm running Ubuntu through an external hard drive. I hardly ever use it and would like to format the external drive to use as... well... an external hard drive to store files. Is there any way to do this?

ic_torres · 04-19-2009, 08:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by strifemaster

I'm running Ubuntu through an external hard drive. I hardly ever use it and would like to format the external drive to use as... well... an external hard drive to store files. Is there any way to do this?

you want to erase your ubuntu in the external drive? and just use it as an ordinary storage drive?

do have another OS to use if you format your ubuntu in that external drive?

i think you can just use FDISK? it formats the entire drive.. but of course your ubuntu will be wiped off. . .(the experts here can verify my answer)

strifemaster · 04-19-2009, 08:58 PM

Precisely! I have Windows on my laptop, I just want to use the external as storage. Would Fdisk work on a USB drive? What command would I use to just format the external drive instead of the hard drive in my laptop (finals are coming up I don't want to screw myself)?

yancek · 04-19-2009, 09:27 PM

Here's a pretty detailed explanation: http://www.ehow.com/how_1000631_hard-drive-linux.html

You use the mkfs command to create filesystems, fdisk to manipulate partitions. You could probably download Parted Magic and do this all from an easy to use graphical interface. Take care that you use fdisk to identify correct disk before beginning so as not to delete partitions on the drive you want to keep.