Topic: ext2/3 or fat32

[laurie_lewis]

I have recently had a problem where I lost my data on a disk that was formatted with ext2 then converted to ext3.  When this has happened to me previously I have been able to use windows based software to recover the data - no problems.  I have not been able to do this with linux.

So, I am thinking about mounting a couple of disks that have been formatted at FAT32 so if the problem ever arises again I can take them to my windows box and recover the files.

I know the file size limitation - that is not a problem I do not expect to have files gigabytes in size so what are the positives and negatives of doing this.

Thanks

Laurie

[arne]

Well I think I just would expect to loose my datas if I reformated my HD or by other means replaced the file system.

I had some problems to understand this question at all .. how can anyone even think about running Linux on fat32 ?? (I have tried and I was not much impressed about that experience.)

Well, I guess that you are thinking about is to run the Linux installation, the SME as is with it's own Linux file system and then to add a data or back up disk based on fat32 ??

I think the main drawback is that you loose all the data security and that you can not controll user rights on the fat32 partion.

For some time a go I bade a backup arrangement using a USB harddisk. I wonder if I did not use fat32 on that backup harddisk. For such a backup purpose where the HD is just temporarely mounted during backup, I think fat32 can be used. In this case you can also move your datas over to a Windows machine.

For all other purposes I think a file system with zero security and poor performance under Linux will be a not so good choice.

At the time I tried to run a complete Linux installation on Fat32 (not the sme server) I think my experience was that the size of the installation (the use of the harddisk) allmost doubled while the performance were really poor, and as mentioned .. zero security.