questions re: usb drive. fat32, linux file system

[Robert Heller]

At Mon, 19 Jun 2017 17:51:21 -0700 "Ubuntu user technical support,  not for general discussions" <ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com> wrote:

> 
> Most USB sticks seem to be formatted with FAT32, probably because  
> enough ms windows users have not discovered linux yet.

No, FAT32 has become the "universal" (read: all O/Ss can handle it) file 
system.  It also has the least FS overhead.  It was also the favored FS for 
external USB and Firewire disks, but most of those devices are now shipped 
with NTFS, mainly because they have gotten bigger than FAT32 can handle.

> 
> Q1: can Linux permissions, ownership, group, etc. be stored in FAT32?

No, not really.


> 
> Q2: If I backup a linux file (.ods, for example), and later I write it 
> back to the linux hard drive, have I lost the ownership/permission 
> attributes?

Yes, probably.

> 
> Q3: I Copied a .ODS file from a USB stick to Ubuntu 16.04, and it had 
> permissions, ownership, group data!  What gives?

Not sure.  When you copy *to* a ext2/3/4, the new file will get some default 
values for permissions, ownership, group data, etc.  I *think* FAT32 has some 
simple permissions.  Owner/Group is "faked" -- generally every file on the 
FAT32 file system gets the owner/group of the user who mounted it, depending 
on how it was mounted (eg apps like the Gnome Disk Mounter panel applet will 
do that).

> 
> I use Lijnux primarily, so I want to format the USB sticks to a Linux 
> file system. Q4: Is this recommended?

I carry two 8gig thumb drives with me. One formatted FAT32 and the other ext3.
The FAT32 one will work with anyone else's computer (in case I need to
transfer a file to/from someone else's computer). The ext3 one I only use on
my machines (or sometimes with Linux boxes I manage).

> 
> Q5: Which is the best file system for USB sticks?

Whatever works best for you.  Note: some file systems are "busy".  This can 
cause additonal "wear".  Some things to midigate the wear include maybe not 
having a journel or mounting it noatime.

> 
> Q6: what is the command to write the file system?


mkfs.*:

ls /sbin/mkfs*

/sbin/mkfs
/sbin/mkfs.cramfs
/sbin/mkfs.ext2
/sbin/mkfs.ext3
/sbin/mkfs.ext4
/sbin/mkfs.ext4dev
/sbin/mkfs.msdos
/sbin/mkfs.ntfs
/sbin/mkfs.vfat

(what you will have will depend on what packages you have installed.)

Thumb drives are generally "partitioned", usually with a MS-DOS MBR with one 
MS-DOS partition.  It is possible that partitularly large thumb drives might 
be formatted with a NTFS file system instead of a FAT32.

> 
> John
> 
> 
> 

-- 
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