[ubuntu-in] portable external hdd

[Onkar Shinde]

On Sat, Aug 9, 2008 at 9:59 AM, shirish <shirishag75 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>  I'm looking for using a portable external hdd which works with GNU/Linux
> i.e. Debian/Ubuntu.

If you can find a external HDD which doesn't work with linux then let
me know. :-P

> I saw one recently the FreeAgent 250 GB but its recommended or works with
> Windows and/or Mac.
>
> http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/external/freeagent_desktop_data_movers/

So are many more products. For most manufacturers linux either does
not exist or it is something out together by bunch of kids who have
nothing to do better. Some manufacturers are ignorant and some are
arrogant.

> I have 2-3 questions :-
>
> 1. This particular drive doesn't have GNU/Linux as a label. As a customer I
> would prefer a product which would also be compatible with GNU/Linux, does
> anybody know that?

Any hard disk that has USB or FireWire interface should just work.

> 2. The drive is formatted in NTFS. While I don't think there may be issue
> with making it ext3 would it void the warranty?

There is good support for NTFS with help of ntfg-3g in all recent
distributions. So NTFS works out of box. An I would suggest not to buy
from a manufacturer who voids warranty if you reformat a hard disk
with different FS type.


Onkar