Since no one has asked the key question, I will: Is the USB drive going to be used exclusively with the Pi or do you need to physically connect it to a Mac, a Windows box, or some other device?
If it's only ever going to be used with the Pi (or some other Linux box) use ext4. If you need to physically connect it to some other operating system use FAT32. While FAT32 has its limitations it is the closest thing we have to a universal* file system.
To forestall a further question, if you're planning on sharing the drive over your network use ext4. The common protocols (SMB, NFS, sftp, ftp, etc.) neither know nor care what the file system on the server is.
Which ever one you opt for you'll need to get to grips with how Linux owner, group, and permissions work and for file systems that don't natively support them (FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS) the particular driver kludges it.
*: my Mac, WIndows PCs, digital cameras, car stereo, games consoles, etc. can read FAT32. Most of them can't read exFAT or NTFS. Or most Linux file systems for that matter.
If it's only ever going to be used with the Pi (or some other Linux box) use ext4. If you need to physically connect it to some other operating system use FAT32. While FAT32 has its limitations it is the closest thing we have to a universal* file system.
To forestall a further question, if you're planning on sharing the drive over your network use ext4. The common protocols (SMB, NFS, sftp, ftp, etc.) neither know nor care what the file system on the server is.
Which ever one you opt for you'll need to get to grips with how Linux owner, group, and permissions work and for file systems that don't natively support them (FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS) the particular driver kludges it.
*: my Mac, WIndows PCs, digital cameras, car stereo, games consoles, etc. can read FAT32. Most of them can't read exFAT or NTFS. Or most Linux file systems for that matter.
Statistics: Posted by thagrol — Tue May 20, 2025 4:52 pm