On Sat, 2007-12-15 at 22:32 +0000, Paul Smith wrote: > On Dec 15, 2007 10:31 PM, Paul Smith <phhs80@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > >>>>> I have bought an external hard disk basically for backups. Which > > > >>>>> format should I use to format it? > > > >>>>> > > > >>>>> > > > >>>> Mine came already formatted as NTFS, but I decided that since I was > > > >>>> backing up a linux system, I'd just feel better if I used ext3, > > > >>>> so I reformatted it to that for no particular technical reason :-). > > > >>>> > > > >>>> Note that you can get to NTFS from linux by installing ntfs-3g > > > >>>> and ext2/3 from windows by installing Ext2IFS (http://www.fs-driver.org/), > > > >>>> so either filesystem can work for windows or for linux. > > > >>>> > > > >>>> > > > >>> Thanks to both. I have formatted the external disk with ext3, and it > > > >>> mounts well. However, when I try to copy something in it, I do not > > > >>> have permission for that. How can I overcome this? Where should I > > > >>> change the permissions? > > > >>> > > > >>> > > > >> If your backing up the whole of your Linux you need root because > > > >> many files are owned by root. So use a root terminal and you will not > > > >> have any mor problems. > > > >> > > > > > > > > But I am trying to copy a file not owned by root. Therefore, it should > > > > be possible to copy as normal user. > > > > > > > > Paul > > > > > > > > > > > Tell me more what your seeing. If you use in a terminal the call: > > > > > > $ cp file /media/xyz > > > > > > what does the error message say? > > > > $ cp -v tent.pdf /media/disk/ > > `tent.pdf' -> `/media/disk/tent.pdf' > > cp: cannot create regular file `/media/disk/tent.pdf': Permission denied > > $ > > Furthermore: > $ dir -l tent.pdf > -rw-r----- 1 psmith psmith 95075 2006-12-31 21:25 tent.pdf > $ke This is the first time I have seen someone use dir rather than ls in a *nix environment. This is not a criticism just a indication of surprise. Anyway , it is clear that the permissions will not allow the file to be written by anyone but psmith. So as psmith your copy would work. I suspect the permissions of /media/disk are too restrictive also. -- ======================================================================= core error - bus dumped ======================================================================= Aaron Konstam telephone: (210) 656-0355 e-mail: akonstam@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
