I'm gearing up to switch to Linux, specifically Cachy OS, but I have a bunch of data drives that are currently formatted for Windows. Do I need to reformat these drives and move my data in order to access it after installing Linux?
3 Answers
You don’t have to reformat all your drives since Linux can read and write to NTFS and FAT32 file systems. You only need to format the partition where you’ll install Linux, and the installer will take care of that. But keep in mind, if you're setting up new drives just for Linux, you might want to consider formatting them to a Linux file system for better performance.
Exactly! For newer drives, I recommend going with EXT4 or any Linux file system for optimal results.
While you can read and write to NTFS using tools like ntfs-3g, think about gradually moving over to Linux file systems. They provide better reliability and performance. When I switched, I didn’t format everything right away; I started with the boot drive and took my time consolidating files and moving to a Linux format as I got more comfortable with the system.
That sounds like a solid plan! I’ll do the same with my boot drive and tidy up my data.
Before making the switch, make sure to boot into Windows with your drives connected and disable the fast startup option. If you don’t do this, your Windows partitions might be read-only when you access them from Linux.
Awesome, thanks for the info!