At Thu, 4 Jun 2026 14:46:12 -0000 (UTC) CGS <[email protected]> wrote:
> > On 2026-06-04, Bob McGowan <[email protected]> wrote: > > On 6/3/26 06:22 PM, Karen Lewellen wrote: > >> Hi folks, > >> A slight dance step to the left question from the previous thread. > >> ...makes humble confession. > >> I have never needed to buy a USB stick before.ÃÂ External USB drive, > >> yes. stick no. > >> However, after a challenging install of rockbox to my IPod classic, > >> all of its contents now exist in a zip archive. > >> I want to safely move this zip file onto something else, with the goal > >> of having the USB stick easily seen, think files directory, if that > >> makes sense. > >> So, is it best to live the stick unformated? > >> Seemed the prior thread had a member meeting with challenges by > >> formatting in advance. > >> For greatest flexibility in a Linux, or Unix environment? > >> > >> Thanks, > >> Kare > >> > > The USB stick will probably come preformatted, based on the experience > > I've had.ÃÂ Usually some MS format, such as NTFS or FAT32. > > > > This lets it be a "generic" format that can be read by Windows, Mac OS > > or Linux systems. > > > > You can, of course, reformat and rebuild the file system to meet any > > specific needs you may have, but generally leaving the stick as is > > should work. > > > > Bob > > > > Is there an appreciable difference between an external USB drive and a > thumb drive? > Capacity, Duralbility, Portabity (transportablity). A "thumb" will be physically and capacity smaller. A lot more portable (easier to carry around). Probably phsically more durable, but maybe not so much in terms of read-write cycles (I/O wear). A thumb drive is easier to carry arround, but not so good as a drive for long term mounting, with lots of read/write cycles. >From an OS and software point of view, all USB drives are treated the same. This actually includes things like USB "floppy" drives and things like USB "Zip" drives as well as USB <=> SATA and USB <=> M.2 enclusures both rotating rust and pure silicon "drives" (flash memory). > > -- Robert Heller -- Cell: 413-658-7953 GV: 978-633-5364 Deepwoods Software -- Custom Software Services http://www.deepsoft.com/ -- Linux Administration Services [email protected] -- Webhosting Services
