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my first post here, so be kind, lol, I know you will be.

I run a dual boot between Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit and Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, and the Linux is a whole new learning curve for me. I bought an Adata NH03 3TB external hard drive for backup because it had:

  1. An on/off switch (rare) and
  2. Compatibility for Linux Kernel 2.6.31 or later

Before I plug it in I thought I'd better double check my kernel and also whether on 32-bit or 64-bit Linux. My search under the latter found for me:

askubuntu.com/questions/41332/how-do-i-check-if-i-have-a-32-bit-or-a-64-bit-os

I have actually soldiered through all 15 answers over nearly two years, but to fast-track, I can show you now results from the first couple of tries:

1st answer:

a. chris@ubuntu:~$ uname -a Linux ubuntu 3.8.0-44-generic #66~precise1-Ubuntu SMP Tue Jul 15 04:01:04 UTC 2014 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

b. chris@ubuntu:~$ file /sbin/init /sbin/init: ELF 64-bit LSB shared object, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked (uses shared libs), for GNU/Linux 2.6.24, BuildID[sha1]=0x7aa29ded613e503fb09fb75d94026f3256f01e7a, stripped

My question is this: If I have v2.6.24 and the Adata is compatible with v2.6.31 on, then maybe I need to upgrade, and I note that v3.1.5.3 or more is around now. But could someone explain to me what the 3.8.0-44-generic, above, means?

Thank you

1 Answer 1

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You do not need to update your kernel, the drive you bought will work without problem, just plug it in, switch it on and use it.

The drive is probably pre-formatted as NTFS, so you will have no problems using it on both Windows and Ubuntu.

  • 3.8.0-44-generic is the Linux kernel version that you are using

Architecture (32 bit or 64 bit) does not matter for using drives.

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  • Thank you. With the 3TB external HDD, should I be looking at partitioning it for use with the different OSes? Jul 26, 2014 at 21:40
  • That is entirely up to you, if you are just using it as a back up drive it will be fine and a single NTFS partition will be seen and work with any OS you connect it to. If you divide it in to 3 x 1TB partitions it wont do any harm, but it gives you options for the future. Adding and re-sizing partitions in the future will be a long process, so it is probably best to do it now. Jul 27, 2014 at 7:39
  • Welcome to Ask Ubuntu, if my answer or any answers you get are helpful or solve your problem, you can accept or up-vote them to show they are useful answers. Jul 27, 2014 at 7:42

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