Switching to Linux from Win11

[Tacomike73]

I'm looking for a back up drive that will hope the about 7 to 8 TB of documents, photos, movies TV shows and Music I have in my Digital collection. I have a 4 Tb and 2 TB drives I could back up too but feel I've sort of our grown those. I'm considering this drive https://www.newegg.com/seagate-expansion-26tb-black-usb-3-0/p/N82E16822185116 a 26TB Seagate.
From my research this should work and for compatibility with windows that I'd be leaving and with Linux where I plan to restore everything I would want to set the drive up with exFat file system format. Does that sound correct?

Then later could I use this drive with the Time Shift back up program in Linux to make more regular backups? Getting this sorted is part of my migration path.

 

[Tacomike73]

Good News!!!
As of today my main desktop is now running Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS. I spent a few week checking over my files Converting TV shows to HEVC video codec and making sure everything I want to save was copied to my 26TB expansion drive.
So far the install went well. I formatted my internal drives ext4 and am now coping stuff back from the expansion drive backup which is going to take hours.
I was a bit nervous editing my fstab file. but i was following a video on YouTube by Learn Linux TV and didn't break my system doing it.
Lots to learn here now that I'm fully into it with no window anymore. It's gonna be interesting and fun.

 

[MzQ1NjExN2]

YouTube by Learn Linux TV

I like that channel. That guys makes good videos.

 

[Tacomike73]

I like that channel. That guys makes good videos.

Agreed! He explains things pretty well and well he has a voice for radio too I would say. Good content that has been helpful so far.

 

[Tacomike73]

Today Im having an issue im trying to create symbolic links from the Documents folder in my home directory to a folder on a separate drive and keep getting an error that the directory is want to link to doesn't exist. Not sure what im doing wrong. I typed "ln -s /home/mike/Documents /mnt/Data/Documents". The Documents folder is in the drive named Data mounted at /mnt

 

[CaffeineAddict]

Your home directory should already have a "Documents directory", so creating a link with same name can't work.
Secondly, link name is passed as 2nd argument to ln command.

Therefore:

ln -s /mnt/Data/Documents /home/mike/Documents2

Notice I've swapped arguments and used "Documents2" for link name to avoid collision.
Also note that once you unmount Data the link will be dangling.
Double check /mnt/Data/Documents is valid directory. it could as well be /media/USER/Data

 

[Tacomike73]

Your home directory should already have a "Documents directory", so creating a link with same name can't work.
Secondly, link name is passed as 2nd argument to ln command.

Therefore:

ln -s /mnt/Data/Documents /home/mike/Documents2

Notice I've swapped arguments and used "Documents2" for link name to avoid collision.
Also note that once you unmount Data the link will be dangling.
Double check /mnt/Data/Documents is valid directory. it could as well be /media/USER/Data

So I had the arguments reversed.
yes the documents folder already exists in home also the place I want to link it to already exists too on an internal drive I have set to automatically mount at startup @ /mnt/Data. So can I not have them named the same? Or already in place.

 

[CaffeineAddict]

So can I not have them named the same?

Directory which you want to link (the one on another drive in Data) doesn't need name change,
But link name can't be same as directory that already exists.

You can't have both a directory and link called "Documents" in home directory, link name needs name changed.
You can however name it "documents" (with lowercase letter 'd' instead of 'D').
Alternative you can create a link somewhere else where there is no directory named "Documents"

 

[Tacomike73]

So if I rename the destination folder with a lower case d then the syntax would be: ln -s /mnt/Data/documents /home/mike/Documents
Is that correct?

 

[CaffeineAddict]

Is that correct?

No it's not correct

Should be:

ln -s /mnt/Data/Documents /home/mike/documents

Note, the syntax is ln -s SOURCE_DIR LINK_NAME
LINK_NAME needs to be unique name, in your case unique directory name and location.

 

[Tacomike73]

I tried that

No it's not correct

Should be:

ln -s /mnt/Data/Documents /home/mike/documents

Note, the syntax is ln -s SOURCE_DIR LINK_NAME
LINK_NAME needs to be unique name, in your case unique directory name and location.

Got sort of. I tried that format
Code = ln -s /mnt/Data/documents /home/mike/Documents
The original Documents folder I renamed Documents1 there was nothing in it.
That created the link with out an error in terminal however when I went in file manager there it was with a little lock, x, and the link icon to the right of folder icon and I couldn't click on it and open it.
Then I found a video on YouTube where they showed doing in in Nautilus file manager by right clicking on the source directory and using the make link(shortcut) command. Then cut and paste it to the home directory. Then rename it Documents. That works and if I double click it opens the files on /mnt/Data/documents.
I'm glad I found a way to make it work but can't understand why what should have been correct in terminal created a link that didn't work.
So much for me to learn here with Linux

 

[CaffeineAddict]

I tried that format
Code = ln -s /mnt/Data/documents /home/mike/Documents

Don't you see what's wrong?

Code tags exist to copy from them not to reply them and copy the reply.

 

[Risque]

Playing game isn't my bag ether but I have a big collection of Movies TV show and music that is all ripped from DVD and CD that I like to have access to on any device anywhere with out a monthly subscription(s). other than that the PC is used for normal PC stuff like browsing the internet, paying the bill email and some documents. I hate to see a computer that works and does what I need become E-Waste because Microsoft wants me to buy a new one that supports TPM2.0 and can run co-toilet to spy on you.

So That article really confirms what I expected. I can keep my Data on NTFS drives and read and write to them Its just not a good idea to do so long term. Best practice would be to copy the data to a new drive with EXT4 formatting if im staying with

Your computer may not have dTPM (discrete TPM) however there is FTPM (firmware TPM), for intel boards that's PTT and for AMD it's fTPM.

That board was sold with and should have a TPM unless removed. TPM, bitlocker, secure boot can be problematic switching from Windows to Linux, try a live usb and check logs before committing.

 

[Tacomike73]

Don't you see what's wrong?

Code tags exist to copy from them not to reply them and copy the reply.

I did copy the exact code you posted above in to terminal. It did create symbolic link and I could see the object in the home folder but it didn't do anything. If double clicked, nothing.