Hi..

I have 2 sata hard drives now ..
A Maxtor 300 GB with Win XP and a Maxtor 80 GB with Linux Debian one it...

The XP drive is formated in NTFS .. and the Linux in EXT3 ...

I now want to add an extra old IDE ATA drive that I have to be as a middle medium between them where I can access files from both OS without any problems ..

My question is how do I go about formatting that drive to something compatible with both ? I now NTFS wont work so should I go to FAT 32? And from where should I format it to be best compatible with linux? I can do it using a windows booting disk? or use swissknife from windows? or any suggestions are apprecaited...


Thanx

NTFS can be read by Linux. Write support is "experimental" at this point, but it has been done successfully and is only going to get better. If you want to be safe, though, go wit FAT32. To be sure Windows will recognize the drive, I'd suggest using Windows to format it. Just install the drive boot into Windows, and goto the control panel. Windows should recognize the drive and you can right click on it to select formatting.

What about linux ,,, will it give me any problems with a windows formatted drive in FAT32 ?

I am slowly moving form windows to Linux .. hoping to do a semi complete transition soon .. So my main concern is Linux working properly with the drive ...

I have just started 4mtng my FILE/DATA HD partitions in M$ so the various Linux distro WILL read them. Was recommended to use FAT, but sometimes option is not avail to me (why?) Diff FAT vs FAT32 to Linux (??).
Have not tried FAT32 4mtd in Linux yet, but do not see why much difference as FileSystem FAT32 is the same.

Just noticed 64bit Vista Ultimate beta 2 (5384) will open files (.txt) on my ODIN x86_64 install DVD (Mdv 2007 beta2), hopefully it does not cause media errors later (don't think it should as read only, no attempt was made to save/change). Do not recall XP allowing that, must recheck later.
.pdf OK btwn M$ & Linux when using .pdf readers
B.. Congrats on shift attempts
[quote=Babe963]SNPD Will linux give me any problems with a windows formatted drive in FAT32 ? slowly moving form windows to Linux [quote]

This is really easy, and a good thing for a "newbie" to get to grips with.
Do as previously suggested: install your new drive, and format it to FAT32 using win (you should find that easy enough, although I forget the windows commands now...). Now would be a good time to put some files on your new drive, so there's something to "see" from linux later.

Now boot to linux.
You need to create a mount point for your new drive:
Open a terminal, and become root
su
give root's password
Make a directory to mount your new drive:
mkdir /mnt/newdrive
Make the directory accessible to everyone:
chmod 777 /mnt/newdrive
Use whatever editor you like to edit the file /etc/fstab eg:
kwrite /etc/fstab
Add the following line, as a line on its own:
Note: "/dev/hdc1" may need to be changed, depending on how you physically installed your drive (ie which cable it is on, & whether master / slave)

Edit:If you are not sure which device is your new disk, the command fdisk -l (that's "minus Ell" not "minus one") will list the available partitions, look for the one that is listed as FAT32.

Save the file /etc/fstab and exit your editor.
Issue the following command to mount all the devices mentioned in fstab (including your new drive)
mount -a

If you don't get any error messages, all is well.
Exit from your terminal (ie close it)
Navigate to /mnt/newdrive with your file browser. Your files should be there. In the future, your new drive will always be mounted automatically at boot time.

HTH

Cool , its getting late now will do as u instructed tomorrow morning

Just another thing..
The drive I will be using have 2 partitons one in NTFS and the other with FAT32.. For the mean time clearing the NTFS partition is more than a few days job so I may leave it as it is for the mean time,, but I can make use of the 60 GB i have on the second partition which is already in FAT32..
This is a drive I have been using in my USB case,, Will physically install it on an IDE tomorrow

How should I go about mounting the FAT32 partition? Will the first partition thats in NTFS cause any problems?


Thanx,
Babe963

When you install Linux, the partitioning wizard should see it all and make suggestions for you. If you understand what you are seeing, can just accept it. Or can Edit to your choosing.
Will show you the NTFS part by itself with the start & end points. Just make sure you do not tell wizard to use entire drive (reformats), pick option to keep existing partitions. It will then propose swap, / , /home from the FAT32 space hopefully. Good luck!