You cannot install Ubuntu to an NTFS partition, though (except with Wubi, which installs it to a rewriteable disk image that resides inside an NTFS partition). Furthermore, it could even just be the Windows partition, as that is of type NTFS. Unless you have a specific reason to do otherwise, your partition for sharing files between Ubuntu and Windows should probably be NTFS. This is usually quite minor when comparing them to NTFS, since while NTFS does support ownership and permissions, it's somewhat complicated to get them properly respected/used when mounting an NTFS volume in a non-Windows operating system like Ubuntu.

Neither exFAT nor FAT32 support file ownership and permissions. These days, you may well have files that large, depending on what you're using your computer for. I just want you to be aware of potential issues.)įAT32 doesn't support files larger than 4 GiB. (I'm not trying to discourage you, and I'm not a lawyer.

You may also want to check your local laws before installing exFAT, to determine whether or not you might incur civil liability due to patent problems.

Remember, if you have to boot from an Ubuntu live CD for recovery purposes, the live CD won't have exFAT drivers even if your installed system does.

You can add it without too much trouble, but this is still more trouble than not having to add it at all. exFAT and FAT32 partitions are other options, but:ĮxFAT is patent-encumbered, so support for it is not built in to Ubuntu by default.

If you're using both Ubuntu and Windows, then yes, you should probably store files you want accessible by both in an NTFS partition.

Ntfs or fat32 for mac network drive