Data exchange
Whenever there is more than one operatiing system (on one or more computer),
users have the need to exchange data between them.
The solutions on this page are NOT applicable for exchanging data across a network. The partition-type of the harddrives on the server is irrelevant to the client PC accessing it.
Visit our Samba tutorial to find out how to share files with windows-PCs across the network.
As a transport, we choose some kind of portable storage device, like a USB-harddrive or stick.
Just until recently, a windows formated FAT-partition was the way to go. Now, we have different
alternatives:
FAT
Still the easiest way to go is to tell Linux to access the FAT-partition that has been created under Windows. This does not provide the features we are used to under linux (permissions, ownership, …), but it usually works.
There are problems when partitions get larger than a certain size. Windows often does not create FAT-partitions in the sizes USB-disks come in these days. FAT is old and has grows, well let’s say ‘fat’ :) Microsoft support for it decreases.
MS even tried to patent FAT in order to make money from all the camera-vendors who use FAT for their digital cameras. IIRC, the patent did not stand in court, but it clearly is a message from MS that they don’t want the free world to use this filesystem anymore.
Still, for USB-sticks FAT is probably best, I don’t know how they like being fdisk’d.
For digital cameras, FAT is probably the only choice, because they expect it.
NTFS
Linux-support for NTFS is growing, but not perfect. There are no problems reading NTFS-partitions in Linux, writing has been a problem when I last tried, but these things might change.
Ext2/3
If the number of ‘receiving window machines’ is limited, you can use ext2 or even ext3 for your USB-drive. Linux-machines can use the partitions as usually with all the bells and whistles, and on Windows-boxes, you install this driver.
I have tried it on three dual-boot machines, and it simply works. WinXP and (according to the project’s homepage) Vista can read and write linux-partitions. No need to use any MS-format to exchange data anymore!
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tutorials/using/filesystems_for_data-exchange.txt · Last modified: 2008/07/20 21:08
Welcome to LinuxBasics.org - The online community that helps people to get Linux installed and running.
During this tour, we will guide you through our website, which has many facets which wait to be explored
The biggest project we are running is our Linux course, based on the LBook.
The book is stored in wiki-format, which enables us to update and correct it as we go.
Discussion for the course is on our Forum
Our Forum is used for discussion of Linux and for questions and answers.
Search the mailing-list that was used prior to the Forum.
The questions and answers from the list are stored in the list's archives in order to help others with the same problems.
Every weekend, we meet to chat in IRC. These meetings are NOT mandatory, but are a nice chance to get to know each other better.
IRC is also a great tool to solve many problems, since it is very quick and easy to ask for more details if you need them.
The tutorials are one of the oldest sections on the LBo-website.
Here you find explanations on how to do specific tasks in Linux. Many of the tutorials were created after a certain problem
has been discussed (and usually solved :) on the mailing-list.
The tutorials are categorized in
In the links section, you find outbound links to other valuable resources.
One of our later additions to the site. We maintain a mirror of the Linux Documentation Project. This is our contribution to the "home of the HOWTOs"
Another later addition is the LBlog which focuses on how to do stuff on the Linux Desktop. It begins with the basics on installing Ubuntu.
Using the integrated site-search, you can search the tutorials, the LBook and all other wiki-pages
Simply type the search term into the box in the upper-right corner of our webpages
As a community, we depend on your feedback and collaboration. So, if you have something to share with others, please contact us. If you have a suggestion for a topic you would like to see covered here, please add it on the Wishlist.
There are many ways to contribute: You can answer questions on the Forum, you can write a complete tutorial or just a step-by-step documentation on how you completed a specific task using linux. Ask questions if the information on this site is not clear, tell us if we got something wrong, spell-check our writings, whatever.
We are looking forward to meeting you at LinuxBasics.org
Anita, Jisao, Sam and Stefan