USB Portable Hard Drives used with Knoppix Live CD

I need some help.

After using a USB Flash Drive for a while now I have a need for something with a few more GB of memory. I am therefore looking for a portable USB hard drive that must work with Knoppix – the only way I can get files off my Windows NT4 machine at work.

The device I initially liked had a review which said a downside was that it did not have drivers for Linux. It works without the need of a driver with Windows XP.

I am not knowledgeable enough to understand why it is different from a flash drive and needs a driver. I presume it is more than just formatting. If it was just formatting I would format it to FAT32 under Windows XP and then use it in Knoppix! I’ve Googled the web and still none the wiser. If anyone can expand my knowledge base I would appreciate it.

My main query though is much simpler. Has anyone used a portable USB hard drive with Knoppix that works out of the box – or after executing a script once Knoppix is loaded. Please note that I am not proficient enough to do a remaster and I cannot do a hard disk install so it must work with the Live CD. If anyone has done this can they tell me the Manufacturer and Model of the USB hard drive so that I might see about getting one for myself. Please note that my primary aim is for file data storage. If I could use it as a bootable Linux drive later that would be a bonus – but it is NOT a prerequisite.

Thanks in advance.

ICPUG

Conceptually it should be the same as an flash memory USB drive, the linux kernel should detect it but mounting the partitions is usually left to the user. I have a Asus 52x CDRW drive (I admit it is not a HD, but it shouldn't matter to the kernel) that is normally a "in the case" drive. It is mounted in a USB 2.0 & Firewire portable case & I have burned CDRs in both Win2k & Knoppix over usb2.0 without any issues.

Of the "Hard drive in a portable case" devices that I have seen, practically all of them work with Linux. Some of those drives (example) work with Linux but the "1 touch backup" feature of the device is just a windows only program that performs the backup. So if you buy the drive for that feature, then yes, that feature will not work with Linux.

I hope this helps.
James

Thanks James.

That sounds hopeful. Clearly the Maxtor stuff can work with Knoppix as I have just read another post where some guy had a Maxtor USB drive that they could not write to.

In the end I might take a punt on the device I prefer. I was not expecting its backup programs to work. I will create my own routines.

Thanks once again.

If anyone else has experience of USB hard drives with Knoppix let's hear it.

ICPUG