Ubuntu – better option other than NTFS for a shared HD between Ubuntu and Windows 7

dual-bootntfs

I have a PC with dual-boot, and I have installed Xubuntu (always newest version) and Windows 7. I have a new HD and I would like to be able to access it from both OS. I suppose NTFS would work since Ubuntu supports it, but, I would like to know if there is another format that may be better.

Best Answer

Well Ubuntu does supports other formats better than NTFS but windows only reads NTFS and FAT32 ... you don't actually have any other choices other than NTFS. FAT32 is a bad idea. You shouldn't be able to copy files larger than 4GB into the partition. The maximum file size on FAT32 partitions is (2^32)-1 bytes, or one byte less that 4GB.

So in short NTFS is an easy way to go :)

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Ubuntu – Should I choose exFat or NTFS for a “shared” partition in a dual-boot system

Yes, you should create a separate NTFS partition to share files between Ubuntu and Windows on your computer.

Ubuntu can safely read and write files on the Windows partition itself.
So you do not really need a separate NTFS partition to share files.

I would still recommend a separate partition for important data that is for sharing between different OSes on the same computer.

Ubuntu – Windows Ubuntu dual boot – Share files between OS

Putting /home in an NTFS partition is not advisable as Linux cannot preserve ownership and permissions on NTFS partition.

I would recommend keeping /home in the default / partition in the SSD and creating sym links to the folders with most data (Documents, Music, Pictures, videos etc.) in a "Storage" partition formatted NTFS, that both Ubuntu and Windows can read and write to.

Since /home also stores all your config files, keeping /home in the / partition in the SSD helps keep things speedy.

A detailed How To is at: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/35807/how-to-harmonize-your-dual-boot-setup-for-windows-and-ubuntu/

After following the instructions in the "How To" create the sym links like this:

Open Nautilus and delete the folders you will not use in /home/[user], such as Documents etc. You should already have Documents etc. in the Storage folder. (In linux a partition is a folder as well).
Navigate to the Storage folder and you will see the Documents etc. folders there.
Right click on Document folder and select make Link. This will create a folder Called "link to Documents".
Similarly, create "Link to Music", "Link to Pictures" and all the other sub-folders in the Storage folder.
Copy these "Link to..." folders to your Home folder /home/[user].
Finally, right click on "Link to Documents" and rename it "Documents". Repeat for the remaining links.

Alternately

Delete the folders in /home/[user] as before.

Open a terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T and enter

ln -s /media/storage/Documents /home/[user]/Documents
ln -s /media/storage/Downloads /home/[user]/Downloads
ln -s /media/storage/Public /home/[user]/Public
ln -s /media/storage/Pictures /home/[user]/Pictures
ln -s /media/storage/Music /home/[user]/Music
ln -s /media/storage/Videos /home/[user]/Videos

Hope this helps

Best Answer

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Ubuntu – Should I choose exFat or NTFS for a “shared” partition in a dual-boot system

Ubuntu – Windows Ubuntu dual boot – Share files between OS

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