Which external hard drive for linux? (anything but Seagate??)

[Diss]

Hi

I want to buy an external hard drive - am a bit torn between a portable one and a desktop one with eSATA but my main problem is i want one compatible with Ubuntu

i seem to remember there was a lot of problems with Seagate FreeAgent hdd's

on the OCUK website the seagate says its hdd is compatible with PC and MAC (does that include Linux?) and the WD doesn't say anything about compatibility

thanks

diss

 

[davestar_delux]

I've got a FreeAgent drive connected and Ubuntu recognises it fine. It's still NTFS at the moment though.

 

[tntcoder]

I got an Icy Box the other day, no issues what so ever using it with eSata on ArchLinux.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-030-BT

I would assume it just comes down to your OS/kernel having suitable eSata drivers for your motherboard.

 

[Diss]

thanks guys

regarding the icydock - is eSATA like USB in that it doesn't need a separate power supply?

also - whats this about Western Digital hard drives having DRM ??

 

[Diss]

I've got a FreeAgent drive connected and Ubuntu recognises it fine. It's still NTFS at the moment though.

is that a USB2 connection?

 

[yashiro]

I've got a FreeAgent drive connected and Ubuntu recognises it fine. It's still NTFS at the moment though.

Exactly the same here. USB2 connection on an A8N-SLi. Ubuntu 8.04(generic kernel).

If you do get a Seagate I'd recommend installing the bundled Windows software on a Windows
machine and setting the 'power off time' on that OS.
Seems the firmware uses some custom power setting that doesn't play nicely with Macs or Linux unless you do this first.

If you really need 'speed' on an external drive don't use USB2 though, it's garbage really.

 

[Diss]

Exactly the same here. USB2 connection on an A8N-SLi. Ubuntu 8.04(generic kernel).

If you do get a Seagate I'd recommend installing the bundled Windows software on a Windows
machine and setting the 'power off time' on that OS.
Seems the firmware uses some custom power setting that doesn't play nicely with Macs or Linux unless you do this first.

If you really need 'speed' on an external drive don't use USB2 though, it's garbage really.

if i get a Seagate Freeagent is it possible just to reformat the whole drive to NTFS and not put any software on it

or

do you have to do as you instructed because its making some sort of frimware change and only then should i reformat it?

thanks

Diss

 

[yashiro]

The latest ones come pre-formatted as NTFS already.
They also have the management software on them.

When you plug it in, it auto boots the setup program. Like an install CD.
Just install that crap on a Windows machine then copy everything from the drive into one folder somewhere.
Run the tray applet/Seagate whatever and change the power management settings.

Done.

For external drives with no power switch you can use

#!/bin/sh
sudo umount /dev/sdb1
sleep 10
sudo sdparm --command=stop /dev/sdb1

To turn them off.

 

[masterluke]

ive used many different USB hard drives with both Linux and Windows and as far as i can remember i havent had a single issue with any of them. Just buy whatever is biggest and cheapest IMO unless the data is critical in which case go with a major brand. I'll will "just work" on linux, the same as windows.

 

[Diss]

The latest ones come pre-formatted as NTFS already.
They also have the management software on them.
When you plug it in, it auto boots the setup program. Like an install CD.
Just install that crap on a Windows machine then copy everything from the drive into one folder somewhere.
Run the tray applet/Seagate whatever and change the power management settings.

regarding this bit ...."then copy everything from the drive into one folder somewhere." Why do you do this? Is this done if you are using a linux PC only?, so if i want to use the external drive for linux and vista you don't have to do this?
or is this simply just to get rid of the software install package on the external drive cos its no longer needed?

thanks again

diss

 

[Diss]

For external drives with no power switch you can use

#!/bin/sh
sudo umount /dev/sdb1
sleep 10
sudo sdparm --command=stop /dev/sdb1

To turn them off.

do you have to do this every time you plug the drive in, or is it a one off

thanks

Diss

 

[yashiro]

No you never have to do any of that at all.

I mention it just in-case you ever want to turn off all power to an external drive.
i.e. you are a lazy ******* like me and can't be bothered unplugging it when you've done a backup.

or is this simply just to get rid of the software install package on the external drive cos its no longer needed?

Yes, or in the event you you need to re-install the seagate app and can't be bothered getting it from seagate.com

 

[Diss]

thanks all

diss