Originally posted by jbinpg Hi, Mike. Firstly, I am sort of glad that you had to send your Chinese laptop back. It was giving you problems that should not have been there.
As for your file access question, there are usually two routes to access Windows files from linux: Samba/NTFS or NFS. Both methods have been mature for quite a while on the linux side and each have their advantages. Best you google for setups for these to see what fits your needs. Of course, we are relying on MS to not throw a wrench into their code somewhere but they have been cozying up to Ubuntu in particular the past few years so I doubt they would do this. Some say MS will eventually make a play to buy out Ubuntu's parent company Canonical in the not too distant future but that is speculation. Shuttleworth still has enough big bucks to fend off MS.
Jack
Jack - I tend to agree with you regarding the laptop I've returned. I chose that machine based on, it would seem, insufficient research, rendering the possibility of using any Linux distro seriously compromised for the time being. Even so, given that it was my choice to buy the machine rather than the supplier's to sell it, I'd have happily stuck with it under Windows 10 were it not for the fault and repair problems I experienced. Having paid a bit extra for fast build and delivery, sending it back for a second time was too much to bear, so a refund was justified. In a sense, I guess I've had a lucky escape
The downside is that I'm still having to use my old HP laptop which is gradually disintegrating around the screen hinges
The upside is that, in researching a replacement, I'm much more clued up on what to look for and what to avoid. I like HP's active involvement with Ubuntu in testing and certifying compatibility, and that's one of the reasons I've decided to go with an HP mobile workstation. I know nothing's ever easy with a "perfect" Linux installation, but I've pretty good confidence I can get there with an HP workstation and their technical support guys.
Thanks for the info on file systems. I'll do some research to compare Samba/NTFS and NFS.
I hadn't heard the speculation around Microsoft acquiring Canonical
That said, so long as it remains open source, I wouldn't have a huge problem with that... and if not, there are always other distros. In fact, I've been reading up on Manjaro recently, and that looks like an extremely interesting option. More work required for the user, it seems, but I like the rolling update aspect...
Originally posted by K1N8 Sorry, I don't think there is any file system that can "reliably" be used across all operating systems, that supports modern features like journaling :/
I am thinking 10 years ahead here. That ext4 driver for win10 might break with a Windows update. FAT32 works everywhere, but it has too many restrictions, maximal file and disk size and things like that.
There is no simple choice that works for all :/
I have to admit my ignorance of journaling. But given that ext4 might break due to Windows update, and FAT32 is too restricted, what puts you off NTFS? I'm not looking for confirmation to use NTFS, but - I suppose - reasons why I shouldn't... Reasons why a different solution is better for the specific scenario I've mentioned
Originally posted by Dartmoor Dave I've been dual booting Windows 7 and Ubuntu for a few years with the shared drive formatted to NTFS, and both operating systems have handled it okay. In fact, I've actually had more problems dual booting Windows 7 and Windows 10 causing a frequent need to run CHKDSK.
The main thing to watch out for is that Linux allows longer file names than Windows, which can be hassle. You have to then extract the 8 character file name from the Windows command line, and I once lost a file when that failed.
Thanks, Dave, that's useful info.
Re file names, as I understood it, long file names are supported by NTFS, Windows 10 and current Linux distros. If I remember correctly, NTFS has a limit of something of 255 characters for the entire path including file name, whereas Linux doesn't have that limit. Is that correct? Either way, whilst I do use quite lengthy names for my image files, they're not excessive, and my directory structure isn't complicated enough to result in large path descriptions - so I
think I should be OK with NTFS on that basis...
Originally posted by photoptimist IANAWU and IANALU (not a windows or linux user) but I've suffered through enough OS, storage, and filesystem nonsense to know where a few gotchas might lie.
Oooh, OK... You're MacOS, then?
Originally posted by photoptimist First, I'm assuming and hoping that each OS accesses this disk while the other OS is completely shut down. That is, each OS gets to reliably unmount the HDD before the other OS is booted and mounts the HDD. If not, you might need some clever intermediate something to share the HDD.
Indeed, and a very good point.
I'm not running one operating system as a virtual machine under the other, or any other non-binary arrangement. Either I'll boot into Linux (which will be 90% of my usage) or into Windows. I have no intention of running the two simultaneously. Plus, if either operating system abended, I would go back in to fix things before attempting to boot into the other system.
Originally posted by photoptimist Second, after you load your data the first time, run whatever disk/file system checking utilities you like on both OSes. Pay attention to any complaints/repairs required by one OS and then rerun the utility of the other OS to make sure they are going to fight over the file system structure.
Third, watch out for any OS updates or upgrades that "update" the file system or add features to it. These may break compatibility with the other OS.
Good luck and enjoy your new dual system!
Thanks - that's excellent advice