[Pre-Install] Backup pre-upgrade 25.10, with external HDD, help

[kubuntutero]

Hi everyone! I bought an external hard drive, a 1TB Seagate STGX, to back up my existing files... I read somewhere, via AI, that I should format it first (to Ext4), but from what I can see, it works normally when I connect it; I see the files it came with originally. What would you recommend I do?

[claydoh]

You *probably* are OK with the existing formatting, but it does greatly matter what it is formatted with and what you are backing up.

If you are creating compressed archives like zip or tar.gz, it should be fine.

If you are just copying files from your home dir to restore after a clean install, that *probably* is fine, too.

The problem area can be where ownership and permissions come into play. As well as filesystem features in Linux (ext4) you may not have on the filesystem on your external drive (most especially if it is exFAT).

To be safest, I do suggest using ext4 specifically for this job. Windows won't be able to see this, so you'd need to reformat it back to ntfs or exFAT to be able to use it more universally.


KDE Partition Manager is the tool to use:

[kubuntutero]

Thanks for replying, now I have a new problem: in KDE Partition Manager, "permissions" -> "everyone" doesn't appear; only root does.

Another question: can KDE Partition Manager detect a fake external HDD? It's supposedly a HDD, but it doesn't make any noise or vibration.
Edit: i found the utility f3, but it seems to be for flash drives, do you know if is works in hdd too?

[claydoh]

Ok, you must not be running Kubuntu 25.10.
Which version are you running? Hopefully not 25.04 or 24.10.

The Partition Manager does not have that option in older versions.

You would need to manually do what the application is doing:

sudo chmod -R +775 /media/<your-username>/foldername

Another question: can KDE Partition Manager detect a fake external HDD? It's supposedly a HDD, but it doesn't make any noise or vibration.

No, other than showing reported size, afaik. Being quiet is not unusual. My wife just got a WD 6tb backup drive, the big 3.5 inch size. It is not completely silent when starting up, but it is pretty much silent otherwise.

If it was not an HDD, you would have an SSD which is quite a lot more expensive. Or if it were a fake, it would use a lower quality drive and probably be louder, I imagine.