Format USB drives as EXT 4

Linux users convert an external drive, such as a USB drive or SD card, to the EXT 4 format.

What is EXT 4 format?

Ext 4 is a format for disks that is used mainly in Linux-based systems. It is backward compatible, so older 32-bit systems can read it.

USB drives and external hard drives can be formatted with this format. It is much better for certain types of files, such as very large ones. This page has instructions for formatting a USB drive as EXT 4 and give reasons for doing so.

EXT 4 vs FAT32

Typically USB drives are formatted as FAT32. This is so documents can be stored on them, and the USB drive can be plugged in just about any computer and the documents read. FAT32 can be read by Windows, mac OS, and Windows. This is an advantage FAT32 has over EXT 4.

EXT 4 has advantages over FAT32. The tables below list a few advantages and disadvantages of both formats.

EXT 4 positives

Handles files or documents, such as operating system ISO
Can be read by 64-bit and 32-bit Linux operating systems.
Can be read by Intel/AMD and ARM64 chips
Can run AppImage documents

EXT 4 negatives

Cannot be used on Windows operating systems or mac OS

FAT 32 negatives

Cannot store documents larger than 4 GB
Difficult to run AppImage documents from.
Does not have file encryption.
Lacks permissions for file systems.

FAT 32 positives

Can be used on Linux, macOS, Windows, ChromeBook

AppImage

An AppImage is a way of packaging an application for Linux, so it doesn’t need to be installed. It simply can be downloaded to a computer, running just about any Linux operating system, and used. There is no need to setup the Linux distro to run an AppImage.

Ext 4 formatting allows for AppImages to be placed on a USB drive and used on multiple computers, running Linux operating systems. Most AppImages are designed to work on 64-bit Intel/AMD chips. Those that are designed like this will not work on 32-bit or ARM64 Linux systems.

Gnome Discs application

Format drives to EXT 4

The Gnome Discs application formats hard drives, USB drives, SD cards, and other types of drives to several different common formats. One of the formats is EXT 4.

It can easily format USB drives, SD cards, and other external drives to the format.

Delete a partition

1 / Click the desired drive

The internal drives and external drives are listed in the left column of Gnome Discs.

2 / Click the desired partition in the main window

In the image the selected partition is Linux.SDcard. Partitions on a selected drive are represented by bars underneath Volumes.

3 / Click the red button in the main window

Clicking the red button launches a dialog that asks the user to confirm the choice. Either delete the partition or cancel the process.

Create a Partition

Creating partitions on a USB drive helps users organize data and use different parts of a drive for different purposes. This is useful when portable applications are stored on a drive. An EXT 4 partition is good for storing AppImages.

1. Click the free space bar

Under the free space bar (and other bars if the drive has other partitions) is a plus button and a gear for additional partition options.

2. Click the plus button

Clicking this button, below the free space bar, to launch a Create Partition dialog that has settings for the partition size and free space.

3. Decrease the number

When the Partition Size number is decreased, the Free Space number increases. Click the plus or minus buttons for either setting, or type the desired amount for either one.

The slider on top also increases or decreases the partition size.

Extended partitions can be created.

4. Click the Next button

Click the Next button in the dialog to move on to the next page in the wizard. The next page is Format Volume. It allows you to name the partition and select a format for it.

5. Type a name for the partition

In the Volume Name text box at the top of the wizard page. Type the desired name for the partition. Any character is allowed as part of the name. However, it may be best not to use forward slashes, since most file systems use it to separate folders.

6. Erase disk or not

Clicking the Erase switch to on will erase all the data on a partition. When a drive a partition is created with the switch set to "Off", data will still be erased. However, more secure files and documents may not be erased. Setting Erase to "On" will erase secure files and document as well. It may take a few hours to format with it on.

7. Click the first radio button

This is the setting that will cause Discs to format the partition as EXT 4. There is an associated choice for password protecting the partition. This means that a password would be required any time the partition is clicked for the first time after the USB drive is inserted into a computer.

8. Click the Create button

This will start the creation process. The wizard will close and the main Discs window will show that the creation of the partition is in process. When the process is done, the main window will show the partition with its new name and its size.

Resize a Partition

A partition can be resized, even if it has documents on it. This section covers the steps to resize a partition.

1. Click the partition that needs to be resized.

2. Click the gear icon that is to the right of the square.

3. Click the Resize item in the menu that appears.

Once the Resize Volume wizard launches, users can resize the volume by using the slider; using the plus and negative buttons on the Partition Size box, Free Space Following text box, or the Difference text box; or type the the desired number into any three of the text boxes. Difference allows users to subtract from the Partition Size text box, which will add the same positive number into the Free Space Following text box. -2.0 GB in the Difference text box means that the Free Space Following text box will have 2.0 GB.

The drop-down menu to the Partition Size text box allows users to choose the measurement standard for the partition size: bytes, kilobytes (KB), megabytes (MB), gigabytes (GB), etc. Simply click the desired measurement, if it needs to be changed.

Once the new sizes have been set, click the Resize button in the top, right of the wizard. This will close the wizard and start the resizing process.

Install Gnome Disks

Gnome Disks comes preinstalled in several different Linux operating systems. It comes preinstalled on the following operating systems that OS-College focuses on:

Ubuntu
Fedora
Linux Mint
Zorin OS

It can be installed on any Linux distro that doesn't come with it preinstalled, however.

Ubuntu-based operating systems

Ubuntu and several Ubuntu-based operating systems, such as Linux Mint, come with Gnome Disks preinstalled. However there are a few that do not. elementary OS is an example.

A quick way to install it on an Ubuntu-based operating systems is through the terminal application with the following command:

sudo apt install gnome-disk-utility

Manjaro

Gnome Disks is found in Manjaro's Add/Remove software repository. Search for Gnome Disks.

It also can be installed with the following command in Consule:

sudo pamac install gnome-disk-utility

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Format USB drives as EXT 4

What is EXT 4 format?

EXT 4 vs FAT32

EXT 4 positives

EXT 4 negatives

FAT 32 negatives

FAT 32 positives

AppImage

Gnome Discs application

Delete a partition

1 / Click the desired drive

2 / Click the desired partition in the main window

3 / Click the red button in the main window

Create a Partition

Resize a Partition

Install Gnome Disks

Ubuntu-based operating systems

Manjaro

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