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I know how to make a live persistent usb on Ubuntu using mkusb, but it formats the usbdata partition, the partition that is actually read by other laptops, as NTFS. Is there a way or another tool to format that specific partition into something more widely usable such as MS-DOS?

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    Use the toram option of mkusb to boot to RAM. Then unmount the USB, (unplug and replug). Then open GParted select the USB drive, right click the NTFS partition and format it to FAT32. even apple can use FAT32. Fat32 is probably what you call MS-DOS it has a file size limit of 4GB. Mar 16, 2021 at 3:41
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    This question may at first look like a duplicate, however this is a unique question as it involves reformatting a partition on a running system. Mar 16, 2021 at 4:03
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    Today exFAT is a good alternative to FAT32. It is getting more widely useful also by non-Microsoft operating systems (Linux and MacOS). Depending on version of Ubuntu you have or have not built-in tools for it. See the text about exFAT at this link and about mkusb-plug at this link.
    – sudodus
    Mar 17, 2021 at 7:33
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    @sudodus: i was playing with Ventoy the other day, It uses exFAT. I was unable to access it from Ubuntu 14.04. It works OK with newer releases of Ubuntu though. mkusb mostly works perfect with 14.04 as is. Mar 17, 2021 at 9:29
  • 20.04 is the first version that works with exFAT off the shelf, previous versions need to have exfat-utils installed: sudo apt install exfat-fuse exfat-utils Mar 17, 2021 at 11:05

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Mkusb Persistent USB, Reformat usbdata Partition to FAT32

Use the toram option of mkusb to boot to RAM. Then unmount the USB, (unplug and replug it). Open GParted, select the USB drive, right click the NTFS partition and format it to FAT32.

Fat32 is probably what you call MS-DOS. It has a file size limit of 4GB.

Windows and Linux can use NTFS but OSX can not. Even OSX can use FAT32.

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