Hey everyone! I have a Western Digital "My Passport" external hard drive that I've been using with my Windows 8 PC. Lately, it's been acting a bit unreliable—sometimes copying files really quickly and other times taking forever. Now that I'm switching to Linux, I'm wondering if I should reformat the drive, assuming I can back up my data first. I believe it's currently formatted for Windows. Does it work with other operating systems, or is formatting necessary? Thanks!
4 Answers
I definitely wouldn't stick with NTFS for anything important unless you absolutely need Windows compatibility. It's pretty prone to issues, especially in Linux environments.
Before you format, think about how you plan to use it. Are you using it solely for data transfer or to boot Linux? If it’s just for transferring files from Windows to your new Linux setup and for backups afterward, reformatting might be the way to go.
I’ve got the same drive and had no issues reading it while it’s formatted in NTFS. It worked fine out of the box on Linux Mint, but for Arch, I had to install ntfs-3g to access it. Just keep that in mind!
I have this "WD Unlocker" program on it that I can't seem to get rid of, even after following online instructions and using the WD Security app. When I connect it to my Linux system, I get a prompt to install Windows App Support for the unlocker. I don’t want to do that, should I just reformat it and lose the password? Is there a good way to do this in Linux? I’m pretty new to it!