0

I'm going to be making a switch from Windows to Linux, but all my HDD's are NTFS-formatted. I understand I would have to format the boot disk and lose all data, but what about the other HDD's that don't contain OS's and are used for data storage purposes only - can I somehow convert them to a Linux-supported filesystem without losing data?

Improve this question
3
  • 2
    Well, you can just continue using NTFS. Kubuntu should have the modules available for using NTFS-formatted partitions.
    – GiantTree
    Commented Jun 10, 2017 at 15:46
  • From what I've read using NTFS on a Linux-based system could be unstable and lead to data loss - is that still true?
    – kat
    Commented Jun 10, 2017 at 15:48
  • 1
    until now the NTFS journal log format hasn't been revese engineered, so journal doesn't work in Linux. If there are some errors you still need to run chkdsk from Windows to fix errors. But that's quire rare anyway unless you have a very unstable power supply.
    – phuclv
    Commented Jun 10, 2017 at 16:40

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2

You should anyway make backups of your various partitions before moving to Linux.

Then you have a non-problem. After carefully checking that your backups are correct, format your partitions for Linux filesystems (ext4 or else) and restore your backups on them.

Benefits:

  1. you have all your files
  2. you are using Unix filesystems
  3. you checked that your backups worked

OK, the restore could take some time, but this is a cheap price to pay.

Also, if your disk is aging (over 3 years), it is the right time to replace it, in which case the procedure above is even simpler:

  • replace disk
  • install Linux
  • install previous disk in USB box and copy files.
Improve this answer
2
  • So it will not be a problem to read/copy an NTFS disk to an ext4 one?
    – kat
    Commented Jun 10, 2017 at 20:25
  • You can copy all your data and directory structure from an NTFS disk to an ext4 filesystem. Just two caveats: 1) if you have specific permissions set, you may have to redo them the Linux way (access flags with chmod), and 2) if there is no NTFS disk on the system when you install Linux, NTFS support could not be installed by default and you could have to explicitly install it. Both things are quite simple to do.
    – xenoid
    Commented Jun 10, 2017 at 21:41

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .