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Which Filesystem Do You Use On Portable Media For Linux Systems?

An anonymous reader writes "Most people use MS filesystems on Disk-On-Keys, and portable hard drives, as these are readable from most machines. But this way you lose the files' permission information, which many times is very inconvenient (you must agree that having Ubuntu asking you whether to execute or display every text file or image you open from a DOK is annoying). Using 'regular' Linux filesystems like ext keeps the permissions, but may require using the superuser when switching machines (as the UIDs are different). So do any of you have a creative solution for this problem?"

4 of 569 comments (clear)

  1. DOK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What? Who on earth calls it a Disk on Key?

  2. What about UDF? by xororand · · Score: 5, Insightful

    UDF doesn't have a 2 GB file size limit like FAT32 and seems to be well supported by most operating systems. I don't really have any experience with it but I just formatted my USB stick with UDF just to see how it goes.
    mkudffs --media-type=hd --vid=MyDiskLabel /dev/disk/by-id/usb-LEXAR_JUMPDRIVE_ELITE
    It works fine in Linux.

  3. Re:ext3 by X0563511 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Hah, using NTFS actually causes MORE problems for the Windows user?

    Format a usb drive NTFS, and put some files onto it. Now, attempt to use this drive on another windows machine.

    Notice anything funny about the file permissions? Heh, this is the same problem Linux has with UID/GIDs on removable media!

    Interesting how the 'correct' fix for both is to use an antiquated filesystem.

    I wonder if and when we will ever see an equivalent of FAT64, to get around file size issues.

    --
    For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
  4. Re:ext3 by bit01 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I hear this bullshit often, and thats what it is, bullshit.

    You're the bullshitter. Get out into the real world. There are billions of people, thousands of languages, thousands of accounting standards. Many are not supported by windows, many are in the third world where the price of windows is a deal breaker, many are conforming to standards you've never heard of, many want software they control, many detest DRM and all it stands for, and many are thinking long term and not the short-term, blinkered thinking you're professing.

    M$ marketing and people sucked in by their propaganda like to claim Windows is the only possible alternative however it's just a dishonest attempt to create a self-fulfilling prophesy.

    In reality windows is only one of a number of alternatives, nothing lasts forever, and one size does not fit all.

    ---

    I never look at alternatives because I'm going to be running the same OS for the rest of eternity.