Ubuntu newbie

[bamalynn]

I am a complete Linux newbie, so please forgive me if I am asking "stupid" questions. I am learning, and hope to really start to enjoy this new OS. I have XP on my main laptop and wish to dowload music/movies to my external HDD (Maxtor Mini4 250 Gig) that will be running on my Dell mini9 with Ubuntu. I have read some articles that says since these files were originally created in a Windows environment, Linux won't be able to read these files and vice versa. What are my options in getting these files from my XP laptop to my Linux laptop without having to have two different sets of the same files, or is that my only option? I'll take any and all answers and suggestions, I do have some computer literacy (Windows), but none when it comes to the Linux language and Linux acronyms.

[yancek]

What kind of files, what file extensions do they have?
Are you talking about downloading files from the internet or copying them from your windows machine to the Ubuntu laptop?

[bamalynn]

What kind of files, what file extensions do they have?
Are you talking about downloading files from the internet or copying them from your windows machine to the Ubuntu laptop?

Mainly mp3, mpeg. jpeg files with a few ripped dvd movies. I'll like to be using the hdd to hold the "mass" of files that I want to access daily between work and home on my Dell Mini9 computer. I have the files already stored on my home computer which runs off of XP. My new laptop will be running off of Ubuntu. I have yet to initialize the HDD on either computer in case I need to format it a certain way. I hope this answered your questions?

[Jonathan183]

You will probably find it easier to share files between Windows and Linux if you have either FAT32 or NTFS format partitions on your external drive. This link may help for file formats.

[bamalynn]

You will probably find it easier to share files between Windows and Linux if you have either FAT32 or NTFS format partitions on your external drive. This link may help for file formats.

Okay, I've heard the terms FAT32 and NTFS as far as file partitions go, but I couldn't tell you the difference between the two. What would be the order in installing info to the HD? Do I need to create the partition first then format to either the FAT32 or NTFS and then download the data to the HD? Also, why are there two different kinds of formats? Why the need for the partition in the first place? Does my HD need to have either OS installed on it? Sorry to be asking such basic questions, but I think this will help me base my next series of questions if I understand the foundation.
Found this info on another forum. Is this the order of what I would need to do?:

how to partition your external hard drive:

plug in the external hard drive to the computer. enter the DOS mode through "start" > programs > ms-dos prompt. then just type in FDISK and then follow the instructions. pretty easy to do, truth be told

how to format your external hard drive:

you need to safely remove your external hard drive from your computer first before you can format it. unplug the disk. then re-plug it. you will then see the partitioned HDD in your "my computer" option. right click on this new HDD icon then select "format." follow the instructions

[oz]

FAT32 and NTFS are Windows filesystems. Linux can read from either of them, but to write to NTFS under Linux you'll need to have ntfs-3g installed. I think Ubuntu comes with that package by default now. If you aren't sure about creating partitions, take a look at the Parted Magic LiveCD. It makes easy work out of partitioning, and is a quick download and burn to disk.

[Jonathan183]

You need to create a partition of the correct type and format it before you can store data on the disk. This list of file systems has links to each with an explaination.
If you have the Ubuntu live CD you can boot from that and use the partition editor to create partitions as you require. You could install gparted on Ubuntu through Synaptic package manager and then use gparted to create the partitions you want.
You do not need to install any OS on the drive if all you want to do is store data on it.

Ed: be careful when you create/edit partitions that you do not delete/move existing partitions by mistake. Make sure you select the correct device ... the external drive may already be formatted with FAT32 for you by the manufacturer.

Ed2: I agree with ozar ... PartedMagic CD does make working with partitions easy, but if you already have the Ubuntu live CD you can use that instead

[D-cat]

Note: Before you go jumping into unnecessary projects, note that most external hard drives come already formatted for Windows systems (Fat32 on older, NTFS on newer). If Windows can already read and write to the hard drive, then I'd suggest doing nothing!! The drive should be recognized and mounted for use by Ubuntu automatically.

I don't know what you read about files not being read between Linux and Windows, it's bogus. There is a slight difference to text file formats (CR-LF vs. just LF, still readable to eachother), but this doesn't apply to 99% of what you share between the OS's.

[DrSuave]

Most likely you'll find you don't need to do anything at all - you'll find the drive should "just work" in Ubuntu and Windows no problem. As long as your filetypes are nice and common like mp3s, jpegs etc you should be absolutely fine. One thing you might have to do is add the medibuntu repository and type "sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras" into a terminal - but you only need to do that if you have trouble playing mp3s in Ubuntu.

Have fun!

[bamalynn]

Most likely you'll find you don't need to do anything at all - you'll find the drive should "just work" in Ubuntu and Windows no problem. As long as your filetypes are nice and common like mp3s, jpegs etc you should be absolutely fine. One thing you might have to do is add the medibuntu repository and type "sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras" into a terminal - but you only need to do that if you have trouble playing mp3s in Ubuntu.

Have fun!

Okay, don't know what a medibuntu repository is, so I guess I'll just wait and see if I have problems playing anything. I guess I still do have the question though of if I need a partition after all? From what I just interpreted, some say yes, some say no.

So, to confirm the most recent post, will I just download my files to the HDD then try to read them by the Dell mini without doing anything to any devices in the way of formatting or partitions? I guess that's a starting point anyway.