Lost Data!

[Nintendo]

I thought NTFS would be more suitable for Windows users due to the 4GB max file size limitation that FAT32 has?

SONY is correct.

Uuum, for Windows users who also have a Pandora, FAT32 I feel would be best. Stick the SD card into your laptop and it works in Windows just fine.


I doubt the OpenPandora Team can actually ship Pandora's with NTFS capability built in, due to licensing stuff -- the 'community codecs pack' allows the mounting of an NTFS filesystem, but with dubious legal implications. Also, most users won't run into the 4GB file limitation of FAT32.


For a Linux user using a Pandora, EXT2 would probably be best. FAT32 doesn't preserve all off Linux's file permissions and such, though for Pandora use it isn't a big deal. And EXT3 or EXT4 is write-heavy (due to their journaled nature).


Mmmm, file systems.

I was talking in general terms, as in general Windows users who don't own a linux system.

 

[Mr Rob]

I was talking in general terms, as in general Windows users who don't own a linux system.

Yep, in that case you're exactly right. For external storage and the like, NTFS is the way to go.

 

[Sugarfix]

I tend to be excessively paranoid about backups, I did one yesterday even. T'is a good reminder to everyone.

Text adventures on the Spectrum taught me to backup regularly.

 

[Nintendo]

With me, it was pornos that taught me to backup my drives on a regular basis.

 

[FaeMinx]

This is quite informative thanks! I went FAT32 as the Pandora is my only Linux machine at present. I also don't have any files that even come close to 4GB.


So FAT32 doesn't preserve all of Linux's file permissions? Could that be the reason some of my PNDs never worked properly? (my card was FAT32 before this disaster as well)


For instance Lemmings SDL always crashed after completing the first level and Nightvision refused to even run.

 

[Mr Rob]

This is quite informative thanks! I went FAT32 as the Pandora is my only Linux machine at present. I also don't have any files that even come close to 4GB.


So FAT32 doesn't preserve all of Linux's file permissions? Could that be the reason some of my PNDs never worked properly? (my card was FAT32 before this disaster as well)


For instance Lemmings SDL always crashed after completing the first level and Nightvision refused to even run.

I doubt FAT32 is the reason that some games don't run properly. The PND system abstracts most of that away; the loss of permissions generally just allows all users to read, write, and execute the files, which I doubt would stop it from running.


The main place where it comes into play is more in the realm of system level stuff. For example in Linux, the /etc/shadow file is the file used to store hashed user password data. To be very secure, this file only allows the Administrative user (known as 'root') to read and write to it. If for some reason /etc/shadow was configured to let everyone read or write to it, Linux would say "No, this is very very very wrong" and try to handle it through a maintenance mode at boot time. I've seen an email server do the same thing when each user's mail file was accessible to other users, etc.


So yes, FAT32 should work just fine for you, FaeMinx.