Linux - NewbieThis Linux forum is for members that are new to Linux.
Just starting out and have a question?
If it is not in the man pages or the how-to's this is the place!
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
Ok so I'm currently using Windows XP on this machine but want to move over to Linux. But here's the thing - I've got like ~500 gigs of stuff on my harddrives taht I really don't want to get rid of. Is there any (safe) way to convert these harddrives from NTFS to a format that Linux can use. I've read that Linux can not see NTFS drives but can't write to them. Which isn't much good either. The stuff on the harddrives is mostly MP3s and Movies, which I would really like to be able to use in Linux.
Any help?
If you have some free space to work with, you can move things from the NTFS drives to Linux (like reiserfs or ext3) drives. But if you're requirement is to have them available to both Windows XP and Linux, then it sounds like converting to FAT32 is your only option (or the only one I'm aware of).
The safest thing to do would be to get another hard drive that has enough space to fit everything on your largest current drive. Install linux on the new drive (ext3 or reiserfs), and then transfer everything from the your largest current drive to the new linux drive. Then you can format the old drive with whatever filesystem you want and move things from your other ntfs drive onto that one.
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.