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new installs and data
Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2008 11:10 pm
by bgast1
I didn't know how to title this but I am curious about something. In the past I have always seemed to trash my Linux installs and along with them goes the information on my hard disk. But at some point I am going to have a lot of music files on my hard drives that I don't want to rip all over again. Is there a way to install a new distro (if I wanted to ) without losing all of those files? I've never been very good about data management but I suppose it's about time that I start learning to save myself a lot of time.
My system currently has 3 hard drives (1) Has Windows XP installed. (2) 250 gig has Linux Mint and nothing else right now. (3) Formatted NTFS 750 gig and is empty.
I enjoy playing around with different distros but I don't like re-ripping CD's and restoring data.
Re: new installs and data
Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2008 11:19 pm
by proxima_centauri
You could create a separate partition (/home folder) for all your personal files during the install process. You could even just put your files on the 750gb NTFS drive, or reformat it to FAT32 so you can read+write easily from both windows and linux. There are many different possibilities.
Re: new installs and data
Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2008 11:38 pm
by bgast1
If I put my files on the 750 gig hard drive and use my Linux drive for playing around with different distros will grub recognize the different distros? If not what options are there besides a using a live disc? There usually is no way for me to know how it really will act with my hardware with out installing the distro is there?
Do I change the format to FAT32 in windows? I take it NTFS doesn't play well with Linux. But what about the 4 gig file size restriction?
Re: new installs and data
Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 12:45 am
by Fred
bgast1,
Unless you need NTFS, use ext3. Unless you need FAT32, use NTFS. Mint handles NTFS just fine, but ext3 is faster, more robust, and more reliable.
You might want to look at these threads below to get a better picture of what your choices are and what you might want to do.
http://www.linuxmint.com/forum/viewtopi ... &sk=t&sd=a
http://www.linuxmint.com/forum/viewtopi ... 18&t=11125
There is probably more stuff floating around just can't remember where right now. Post back if you have questions.
Fred