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Using SanDisk ExtremePro 128GB usb3.0 thumb drive to copy files between Lubuntu 13.10 systems, also sometimes from Mac or PCs. Formatting is standard off-the-shelf, I believe, although I did run a top shareware bitchecker on them before I put them in use. The SanDisk programs are still there, and I'm not using any of their encryption.

When I copy files from Lubuntu to the thumb drive, although Lubuntu differentiates file-name letter case, and the letter case is retained on the thumb drives, the thumb drive barfs when two separate files in the same directory have the same name but different case. Lubuntu asks "Do you want to skip, overwrite, or rename?". Not only that, under unusual circumstances--if a default overwrite is in effect-- it will silently RENAME the file to the previous file's case pattern, while overwriting the old file.

Obviously this renders backing up between Lubuntu systems a pain.

I want to be able to use the thumb drive to copy between Lubuntu's without having to worry about case and duplicate file names. And I want to be able to copy back & forth from a Lubuntu to a Mac or PC too. The files are large (around a Gig each), so I have to be able to maintain speed.

Is there an easy way to change settings on a SanDisk Extreme Pro so it does this?

Is there a way to format the SanDisk so it can handle both requirements? What steps would I use to do this on Linux?

Alternatively, is there a way to format the SanDisk so it has two partitions, one that works back & forth for Lubuntu's, and one that can nicely talk with PCs? What steps? I'm willing to lose the unique filenames on the partition that can talk with PCs, if I can keep it on the partition used to sneakernet between Lubuntu's.

Thanks.

muru
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DragonLord
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2 Answers2

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Your thumb drive probably has a case insensitive file system. You would need to format it using a case sensitive filesystem do be able to do what you want.

Yes, you can format it to have two partitions, use gparted to create a partition table and 2 (or more) partitions on your thumb drive, set the first one as vfat (that´s the one you will be able to use on windows), and the other as ext4 (that´s going to be case-sensitive).

Daniel
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Off the shelf format on SanDisk is Fat32 (vfat) which is case insensitive. There are a couple of nice GUIs to repartition your drive, I prefer 'gnome-disks' if available for lubuntu, or gparted as mentioned above.

Sean K
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