Partitioning Seagate Backup Plus [SOLVED]

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cecilieaux
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Partitioning Seagate Backup Plus [SOLVED]

Post by cecilieaux »

I just bought a 4TB Seagate Backup Plus USB drive for the purpose of backing up my data (about 600GB) before upgrading to Linux Mint 18.2 that everyone is raving about. I am running from Linux Mint 17.3 (Rosa) 64-bit on a o1TB drive.

I thought the drive came unformatted but it came as one NTFS partition (3.76 TB) plus a partition that Nemo reads as "Microsoft partition."

I am thinking of partitioning about .76 TB in NTFS to store Windows stuff from other than my own two Linux-only machines; then 1 TB as Ext to back up my Linux desktop; another 1TB as Ext to back up my Linux laptop; and 1TB as Ext for extra stuff I don't know exactly what: VM machines, ISOs, debs, etc.

I assume I can do the on Gparted.

Questions:

1) Is this nuts on my part?

2) I have heard that either NTFS are Ext partitions should be first because the other is harder to shrink or expand, which should go first?

3) Which Ext filesystem, 2, 3 or 4 should I use (Gparted reports my current HD partitions, I have /home in a separate partition, as Ext4)?

Sorry if I sound like a doorknob. I am not very familiar with this.

Thanks to all in advance,
Cecilieaux
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Cecilieaux
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syg00

Re: Partitioning Seagate Backup Plus

Post by syg00 »

I see some of this has been answered in the other threads you opened.
Partitioning is your choice - anything is ok if it suits. Personally I just use one partition for my Linux stuff - separate directory for each machine. That way you only need one mountpoint. KISS.
I always prefer ext4, that's where (most) developments happens - for big filesystems that matters.
phd21
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Re: Partitioning Seagate Backup Plus

Post by phd21 »

Hi "cecilieaux",

I just read your post and the good replies to it. Here are my thoughts on this as well.

If you have, or think you will, need to access this external drive using MS Windows (yours or someone elses), then you would want to have an NTFS partition. Tip / Note: If you want to put multi-media files (videos & movies, music, pictures, etc...), that you want to use with a smart TV, blu-ray / DVD player, game consoles, hardware routers, that have USB ports, then having a NTFS partition is a must because most of those will not read the Linux file systems, even though most of their software (firmware) is written in Linux. Note: Multimedia streaming applications like UMS (Ultimate Media Server), PS3 Media Server, Kodi, Plex Home Theater, etc.. have no problems reading Linux "ext" file systems (or NTFS), and streaming that to smart devices, like phones, smart TV's, smart Blu-Ray /DVD players, game consoles, TV sticks, etc...

You can easily partition the drive using "gParted live" or the Linux Mint partition manager editor into multiple partitions. It does not matter which partition is first or not, they are all easy to resize with a partition manager editor. I have mine partitioned into NTFS and Ext4 partitions. In your case, you can have a 2 tb NTFS and a 2 tb Linux "ext4" partition, or 3 tb NTFS and a 1tb Linux "ext4" partitions. You get the idea....

Hope this helps ...
Phd21: Mint 20 Cinnamon & xKDE (Mint Xfce + Kubuntu KDE) & KDE Neon 64-bit (new based on Ubuntu 20.04) Awesome OS's, Dell Inspiron I5 7000 (7573) 2 in 1 touch screen, Dell OptiPlex 780 Core2Duo E8400 3GHz,4gb Ram, Intel 4 Graphics.
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Pierre
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Re: Partitioning Seagate Backup Plus

Post by Pierre »

1./ Nope - - I've does exactly the same thing on one of my Ext HDDs

2./NTFS is probably better than using Fat32, as there is a file size limit,
of about 4350Mb for the fat32 system & I'm often hitting that limit, with some of my back-up ISOs

3. actually I've got that split Ext HDD set to NTFS / Ext3 - as it was split some years ago,
but most folks will probably say to use Ext4 these days.

look at how much Data that you wish to preserve under each partition & use the as a guide,
to how you do split the proposed Ext HDD - - I've had to adjust mine, at least once,
as one partition was nearly full, and I'd been moving some Data over to the other partition.

& yep - - I've used Gparted to create the existing setup & later, to adjust the partition boundaries.
of course, it's way easier to get this right, on a new / vacant Ext Drive:
- don't get too concerned about any supplied software that came from the Drive Manufacturer.
just shrink the RHS of the one Partition, which won't take long, if there is nothing on the Drive,
and then create a new Partition, in that vacant space, & format it to Ext4.
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Please edit your original post title to include [SOLVED] - when your problem is solved!
and DO LOOK at those Unanswered Topics - - you may be able to answer some!.
cecilieaux
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Re: Partitioning Seagate Backup Plus

Post by cecilieaux »

syg00 wrote:I see some of this has been answered in the other threads you opened.
I thought no one was going to answer here on Hardware/Partitions, do I went and took the two main questions to the Newbie section. Sorry if that is wasteful.

Cecilieaux
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