External HDD formatting

Help and Support Vero 4K / Vero 4K +
1

Hi. I’d like to add an external HDD to my Vero 4K and, having already researched what I need to do on here (thanks btw) I just have a couple of questions. Should I format using exFAT as NTFS seems to be read-only on some Linux based devices. But then I’ve seen posts where people report NTFS as working OK. Should it be as simple as formatting it with a laptop and just plugging it into the Vero 4K?

I don’t plan on removing the HDD very often, if at all. It’s only 160Gb and I’ve got a powered enclosure for it. I want to read/write from and to it.

Thanks.

2

Then the recommendation has to be: use ext4. Choosing exFAT or NTFS is mainly for situations when you’re regularly swapping the disk between Linux and Windows systems.

The ntfs-3g driver supports both read and write on NTFS.

3

Yes. If your laptop is linux you will have no problem. Otherwise you will have to use the commandline on the vero or (easier) download a live CD of linux mint or ubuntu.

4

Eek, this got a bit more complex than I first thought! Thanks for the replies though. Laptop is WIndows 10.

5

You can format from the Vero4K using mkfs.ext4, mkfs.exfat or mkfs.ntfs, though I can’t claim ever to have used the last one.

6

The simple answer then is to format as ntfs on Win10.

9

And this will allow be to write to the HDD?

10

Yes.

11

Thanks again to this wonderfully helpful forum! :+1: