I've been struggling with my internal HDD which is really slow and laggy. So, I decided to transfer my files to an SSD. However, I'm having a tough time copying the files—everything I've tried, including DD rescue through a live boot, hasn't worked. To make matters worse, my file system turned raw, causing me to lose weeks of work and forcing me to format the drive. After some research, I found that NTFS and Windows can be problematic, but Linux with Btrfs seems to have advantages in terms of data safety. So, I'm wondering if switching to Linux and Btrfs would really solve my issues. Is NTFS the real problem here? Will it be easier if I switch, and if so, what's a beginner-friendly way to go about it? I know Windows isn't the best for security but it's familiar to me.
1 Answer
I recently switched to Linux, and honestly, it's been a game changer for me in school and software development. However, I was super cautious about my NTFS drives, so I copied my data from Windows to two external drives first. I recommend using Teracopy for verification. Once my data was secure, I booted into Linux, reformatted my data drive to ext4, and transferred everything back from my external backups. Trying to convert to Btrfs live is risky; just back everything up and start fresh instead.
Exactly! Starting fresh with a new Linux installation and backing up your data first is the best way to go. If you're unsure about moving to Linux, sticking with Windows might be safer until you feel more confident.