why a usb drive can work in both linux os and windows os without the need for formating the file system?
+6
A:
Typically USB drives are formatted with FAT32 or NTFS, both of which are usable in Linux.
You might also find the Wikipedia article on USB mass storage devices interesting. In particular:
The USB mass storage specification does not require any particular file system to be used on conforming devices. Instead, it provides a simple interface to read and write sectors of data—much like the low-level interface used to access any hard drive—using the "SCSI transparent command set." Operating systems may treat the USB drive like a hard drive, and can format it with any file system they like.
Jon Skeet
2009-06-30 17:01:12
NTFS usability in Linux is not always awesome. Sometimes its read only
Eric
2009-06-30 17:03:55
True - in which case USB drives formatted with NTFS will be read-only on those systems.
Jon Skeet
2009-06-30 17:09:23
A:
Because both OS'es know how to read/parse/work with the format.
Format a USB key in say OSXs HFS+ and then windows will not know which end is up (without third party drivers)
curtisk
2009-06-30 17:02:27