create partiton and format external USB hdd

lewham · September 8, 2016 at 6:26 PM

I have a Raspberry Pi 3 running LibreELEC 7.0.2 and I have an external USB hard drive.

I wonder how do I create a partiodion and format it?

thank you

**Klojum** · September 8, 2016 at 8:37 PM Official Post

Via the commandline (SSH) you can partition your attached devices.

See this webpage for a tutorial.

**chewitt** · September 9, 2016 at 3:30 PM Official Post

Or you remove the USB drive from the Pi and connect it to the computer you're reading the forum on and format things there.

maddes · September 25, 2016 at 11:46 PM

Quote from chewitt

Or you remove the USB drive from the Pi and connect it to the computer you're reading the forum on and format things there.

a) What is the recommended file system for a 2TB hard disk attached to the Raspberry with LibreELEC? ext4? ntfs? exfat?

b) Is there any "best practice" how to use/integrate an USB disk with LibreELEC? (e.g swap, mount points, whatever)

Any information is highly appreciated
Maddes

**chewitt** · September 26, 2016 at 4:06 AM Official Post

If you want performance use EXT4. If you want compatibility with Windows use NTFS. If you want compatibility with Win+Mac use exFAT. There is no filesystem that gives performance AND compatibility but all are "good enough" for use in a mediacentre box. Best practice is "plug it in and it just works" as there is no need to muck about with mount points or anything else.

bigcontainer · October 5, 2021 at 11:28 AM

Quote from chewitt

If you want performance use EXT4. If you want compatibility with Windows use NTFS. If you want compatibility with Win+Mac use exFAT. There is no filesystem that gives performance AND compatibility but all are "good enough" for use in a mediacentre box. Best practice is "plug it in and it just works" as there is no need to muck about with mount points or anything else.

To clarify 'chewitt's statement based on my experience this week, you will have to input the file path to the new 'recordings' folder and give it the correct permissions. When I did not have the permissions set correctly it would record about five seconds and stop, now the permissions are set correctly it performs flawlessly onto a 1TB M.2 SATA WD stick in an external case, in my case formatted to NTSF.