Adaptable external drive

A method comprising:

• coupling an external storage media to a computing device, the external storage media having at least a primary partition and a secondary partition;
• determining, in the computing device, whether the primary partition is compatible with a file system executing on the computing device;
• and
• at least one of:
• in response to a determination that the primary partition is compatible with a file system executing on the computing device, accessing the primary partition using the file system executing on the computing device;
• or
• in response to a determination that the primary partition is incompatible with a file system executing on the computing device:
• loading a file format conversion module from the secondary partition;
• and
• accessing the primary partition using the file system executing on the computing device and the conversion module.

A computer program product comprising logic instructions stored on a computer-readable storage medium which, when executed by a processor in a network attached storage device, configure the processor to:

• determine whether a primary partition of an external storage media is compatible with a file system executing on a computing device, the external storage media having at least the primary partition and a secondary partition;
• and
• at least one of:
• in response to a determination that the primary partition is compatible with a file system executing on the computing device, access the primary partition using the file system executing on the computing device;
• or
• in response to a determination that the primary partition is incompatible with a file system executing on the computing device:
• load a file format conversion module from the secondary partition;
• and
• access the primary partition using the file system executing on the computing device and the conversion module.

A network attached storage device, comprising:

• a detection module to detect, in the network attached storage device, the connection of an external storage media to the network attached storage device;
• a format module to:
• initiate, in the network attached storage device, a format utility;
• and
• configure the external storage media with at least a primary partition and a secondary partition;
• and
• a computing device coupled to the external storage media, wherein the computing device comprises an access module to:
• determine whether the primary partition is compatible with a file system executing on the computing device;
• and
• at least one of:
• in response to a determination that the primary partition is compatible with a file system executing on the computing device, to access primary partition using the file system executing on the computing device, or
• in response to a determination that the primary partition is incompatible with a file system executing on the computing device, to:
• load a file format conversion module from the secondary partition;
• and
• access the primary partition using the partition using the file system executing on the computing device and the file format conversion module.