[USB SATA connection] Changing file system from NTFS to Ext3

[Ted Hilts]

J wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 18, 2010 at 09:13, Liam Proven <lproven at gmail.com> wrote:
>   
>> On Thu, Mar 18, 2010 at 1:50 AM, Ted Hilts <thilts at mcsnet.ca> wrote:
>>     
>>> My Ubuntu machine is a dual boot (XP and Ubuntu).  I am gradually
>>> formatting the original XP NTFS IDE drives over to Ext3 so there will be
>>> just a small  XP system and a large Ubuntu system. In order to build a
>>> Linux source respository I obtained a SATA Terra Byte USB external drive
>>> which the store had already set up as NTFS which Ubuntu had no problem
>>> integrating.  Problem is I want Ext3 not NTFS.  Also, this USB Sata
>>> drive prevents boot up and I have to turn it off before shutting down
>>> and turn it on once the system has passed the boot up stage.  This
>>> situation has caused me to wonder what I am doing wrong.  I was just
>>> going to leave the system (including the USB external Sata drive)
>>> running and then "umount" the  USB Sata drive, format as Ext3 and then
>>> "mount" but I think I am missing something here because I want the USB
>>> external Sata drive to be permanently in place so that it powers up with
>>> the rest of the system and powers down with the rest of the system
>>> without me having to turn it OFF and ON as a separate disk entity.
>>>
>>> Is there someone knowledgeable on this subject that can give me some
>>> direction?
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance for any guidance, Ted Hilts
>>>       
>> Couple of things.
>>
>> [1] Your external drive. Either you can use USB *or* you can use
>> eSATA, but *not both*.
>>     
>
> He didn't say eSATA, he said SATA.  It's just semantics... pretty much
> all external hard disks > 500GB are guaranteed to be SATA disks in a
> USB external enclosure.  There are also eSATA external disks, but the
> most common ones out there are SATA drives put into USB 2.0
> enclosures.
>
> Besides which.. I can "theoretically" use both USB and eSATA... my
> laptop has two USB 2.0 ports and an eSATA port built in...  :-)
>
>   
>> [2] Why not just reformat the external as ext3 or better still for
>> that size ext4, then?
>>     
>
> Agreed.  And I'm pretty sure that's what he wants to do.  It sounds
> like he's taking about converting the partitions on his onboard disks
> over, then he gets into the USB drive and things get muddled from
> there..
>
> SO, Ted, can you clarify exactly WHAT you have, WHAT you are doing to
> change it, and WHAT you expect the outcome to be?
>
> Moving on...
>
> Ted: You're problem is most likely in your BIOS.  You have it (or it
> is set by default) to boot from USB devices.  You'll have to disable
> that, or see if you can change the boot device order in BIOS so that
> your onboard drives are booted BEFORE any USB devices.
>
> What you should be able to do is change the boot order so your onboard
> drive boots first, and then should you ever need to boot from a USB
> device, you should see an option listed on your boot splash screen
> (when the system first powers on) that gives you options for entering
> BIOS setup and for selecting boot device.
>
> On my system, the boot splash tells me sometihing like F1 to enter
> BIOS and F12 to choose boot devices.  That way I can boot alternate
> items should I need to, but otherwise, my system will always boot from
> its onboard hard drive regardless of what devices I have plugged in
> via USB.
>
> Hope that helps...
>
> Cheers
> Jeff
>
>   
Jeff
Sorry, I'm old and slow but I'm doing my best. -- I may be slow getting 
back to you or others but I do appreciate the help.
That was very helpful -- the booting issue comments.  I will try and 
follow your advice in that regard.

I have also several other concerns that I just listed that have to do 
with specifying the disk type as in SD, HD, etc.  Also, I have concerns 
about the fstabs entry for this external USB connection. I don't want to 
hang the whole system because of a new entry when it won't boot.  I 
think the system will be looking for such an entry so I need to make 
sure I do it right.  More advice would be appreciated.

Thanks, Ted Hilts.

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