I recently switched back to Linux on my laptop after a rough experience in college. I installed it on a new, larger SSD while repurposing my old Windows SSD as an external drive. I'll be using Linux Mint this time around, as I've tried other distros like Fedora and Arch without sticking around.
I'm looking to transfer only my personal files—like photos, project files, and documents—from my old Windows installation. I don't need to bring over app configurations since I plan to set those up fresh. I'm primarily into digital art using programs like Krita and Inkscape and do a bit of light gaming on my old ThinkPad.
Since my old SSD is NTFS, should I create an NTFS partition on the new Linux setup, or is it better to use a Linux-native file system like ext4? What are the pros and cons to consider for this file transfer?
5 Answers
If you want to future-proof your storage, consider using btrfs instead of ext4, especially for features like snapshots. Just remember, when transferring files from NTFS, everything should go fine as long as those pesky permission issues are kept in check!
It's definitely a good idea to use a Linux-native file system for your new SSD since it will give you better performance and compatibility with Linux. NTFS is okay for sharing between operating systems, but since you're sticking with Linux only, ext4 or similar gives you more robust drivers and proper permissions handling.
Avoid any worries about errors when moving your files; it should be as easy as copy and paste. Just focus on getting your data transferred, and you can always adjust permissions afterward if necessary.
Copying from NTFS to ext4 should be smooth, but just make sure you don't have BitLocker activated. Mount the drive via USB, drag your files, and you're good! If you need to manage permissions later, you can use the 'chmod' command to set everything up the way you want.
You could keep the NTFS partition for your data temporarily and just mount it on Linux. Copy your files over to the new ext4 drive once you're set up. After that, use ext4 or btrfs for the new drive since you won't have any issues transferring from NTFS to ext4.
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