Best file format for wiping USB memory stick

[mintd]

#1 & #2 if you choose "erase and install" the mint installer does it for you. Win will be the same.

No difference for an HDD. If you are formatting an HDD for use as a data drive, if you want to share files with win then format the partition ntfs, if linux only then format ext4.

Sorry I'm not sure what the 'default native file system on your internal SSD storage device for operating system installations' would be? How can I check this? I may have formatted the drive in the past so would this information be more difficult to find?

Mint's default filesystem is ext4. You can find out about your drives with gparted (there is a copy on the install iso, but you have to install it from software manager once you have installed mint). gparted is the standard linux partition editor.

This is what my system drive looks like, you get the panel on the left with view > device information.
Screenshot from 2023-03-23 10-56-47.png

Thank you very much AndyMH.

I just tried out gparted and that works really nicely, thanks.

Just had one last question for no - if I were to format a micro-SD card (64GB) for use as extra data storage on Linux - would exFAT be the best format (otherwise ext4)?

Cheers and have a good weekend.

[mintd]

I use Mint Win11 and OSX, for my flash drives they're formatted exfat. All OS's read and write to them.

As for your other questions, the best format to use for the installation of those individual OS's, is, the installers default file format. I know, not a big revelation there. If I didn't have to share flash drives between PC's then Mint would use EXT4 so I could save timeshift backups to it. Windows would use ntfs cause it's faster for it, and what ever the default OSX is for it.

Thank you Cobrin. Sounds like exfat is the way to go.

You mentioned about making backups - what are the best apps/software for doing this in Linux Mint? Ideally I would like my desktop folders and files backed up automatically once per day (and preferably just any new files, as opposed to everything each day - is that a good idea?).

Cheers and have a good weekend.

[Cobrin]

It's okay to do that, incremental saves are easier on hdd space, but eventually you'd want a full snapshot. I'm not the best guy to ask for backup strategies, I have all my personal data backed up on another hdd and another copy elsewhere. It (to me) seems easier and clearer to understand this way. I don't use cloud services, I don't see the need.

Jan this year I started to use timeshift for a bi-weekly and bi-monthly snapshots (OS only not personal files) and only keeping two of each, to get Mint booting again if needed e.g. back in Jan, installing 21.1 and because of my nvidia gfx card an update would give me kernel panics OOM which was a known bug with a workaround, so my usage of timeshift got me back up and booting again, I'm glad to have used it, and know how to but I've only used it three times. I have as far as two months to decide, if, to go back, otherwise it'll be written over with another snapshot, and I'm okay with that. Again personal data isn't on the OS ssd, nor is it on the windows ssd. That's on other hdd's and the laptop has only what I'm working on or need on it. I did do a full snapshot with just the OS installed and updated, then changed timeshift setting to bi weekly/monthly, seemed a smart thing to do at the time, but have yet to use it any of it.

In the case of I've done something wrong, or an update messed up, or have installed enough 'try it out' software that the 'clean OS feel' is a bit messy, then timeshift can get me back to a cleaner time.

I also use Macrium Reflect where I keep copies of the complete OS SSD on external hdd's so If an ssd were to fail I can replace it and clone it back as if it never left. This was me with Windows back in the day and more specifically laptops. I have a rescue flashdrive that I boot to and image to a spare m.2 pcie ssd that's in a usb-c enclosure. I know there are other imaging software out there for Linux but I already have an established method that's 100% still successful for both OS's.

Mint takes care of itself, Win11 I've stopped backing up, nothing ever changes significantly from the last image anyway.

See, not the best person to ask lol.

[Cobrin]

look what I found, happy reading:
viewtopic.php?t=272993