linux filesystem question...

[jdratlif]

I was thinking about changing the file system for my gentoo box.

My biggest problem with ext3 is that it takes forever to remove large files. I often have multi-gigabyte video files on the disk. It can take up to 20 seconds to delete a 4 GB ISO.

So, what file system would be best.

I think I like the journaling stuff. I'm not really sure what it means, but from what I've read, it improves reliability and reduces fsck times when things get bad during power failures.

I don't have a UPS and I'm not planning to invest in one (i.e. I'm poor).

After reading about the three seeming major alternatives (ReiserFS, JFS, and XFS), I can't find any useful information about my specific concerns at all.

Reiser seems to be unmaintained or at least stagnant. Maybe that's not a bad thing. ext2's been around forever and I liked it well enough (except for long fsck times after a power failure).

It's been suggested that if I have a power failure under XFS, I'm screwed. Something about excessive cache usage and write delays to improve speed which works great if you're not worried about power failures.

No one seems to have anything to say about JFS except that IBM has been using it on AIX for 10 years. Sounds good to me.

I've only had two power outages since April, so it's not a major concern, but it does happen.

Any suggestions?

[Nach]

My biggest problem with ext3 is that it takes forever to remove large files. I often have multi-gigabyte video files on the disk. It can take up to 20 seconds to delete a 4 GB ISO.

I was wondering about that too. I noticed every time I download a new Knoppix DVD and then delete the old one, it takes forever. I thought I had really bad luck or something, never attributed it to the file system. I never had such issues with FAT32 though.

Reiser4 sounds amazing, but with the author in jail, doesn't look like we're going to see it any time soon.

[DancemasterGlenn]

I use ReiserFS and have no complaints at all, for what it's worth. So I guess that would get my vote.

[funkyass]

odd.

what kind of journaling are you two using with ext3? might be a bug with the FS driver too.

tho, reiserfs user here. the best alternative is NTFS, if the signs and stars are properly aligned. a proper FS comparison with NTFS would be lovely, but thats not happening anytime soon.

[Nach]

what kind of journaling are you two using with ext3? might be a bug with the FS driver too.

Whatever the defaults are.

the best alternative is NTFS, if the signs and stars are properly aligned. a proper FS comparison with NTFS would be lovely, but thats not happening
anytime soon.

Yeah right. Nothing works with NTFS. Even tools that work with NTFS don't work with NTFS.

[casualsax3]

tho, reiserfs user here. the best alternative is NTFS, if the signs and stars are properly aligned. a proper FS comparison with NTFS would be lovely, but thats not happening anytime soon.

You've just suggested that he use NTFS for a filesystem in Linux?

[funkyass]

tho, reiserfs user here. the best alternative is NTFS, if the signs and stars are properly aligned. a proper FS comparison with NTFS would be lovely, but thats not happening anytime soon.

You've just suggested that he use NTFS for a filesystem in Linux?

you read the entire sentence right?

[jdratlif]

It might not be a bad idea to make a separate partition for my large files.

I'm not entirely sure I trust the ntfs-3g driver yet. It's a bit new.

From what I've read, ext3 and Reiser do well on large numbers of small files (so basic systems or mail/news servers), but don't work so well with larger files.

After reading up on mythtv, they suggest using XFS or JFS. If I were using mythtv, I'd probably get a UPS and use XFS. But JFS looks like the best for my specific concerns.

I think what I'll do first is partition my external usb hard drive and copy a few ISOs to each file system and see what takes the least amount of time.

[Nach]

I'm not entirely sure I trust the ntfs-3g driver yet. It's a bit new.

I wouldn't even trust it if it wasn't new. With NTFS being closed source, there are just so many things that can spring up out of the blue. Not to mention that Microsoft changes it slightly with every new OS and service pack.

[casualsax3]

I'm not entirely sure I trust the ntfs-3g driver yet. It's a bit new.

I wouldn't even trust it if it wasn't new. With NTFS being closed source, there are just so many things that can spring up out of the blue.

Things can be closed source and work. Open source projects don't magically work better than closed source projects. I've been using NTFS-3G in the wild for some time now with a few external drives that I have and it works great. They took *great* care to make sure it was actually stable before calling it so.

[Nach]

I'm not entirely sure I trust the ntfs-3g driver yet. It's a bit new.

I wouldn't even trust it if it wasn't new. With NTFS being closed source, there are just so many things that can spring up out of the blue.

Things can be closed source and work. Open source projects don't magically work better than closed source projects. I've been using NTFS-3G in the wild for some time now with a few external drives that I have and it works great. They took *great* care to make sure it was actually stable before calling it so.

You misunderstand entirely.
NTFS is closed source. No one really has a clue what it does. Every app out there with NTFS support is trying to reverse engineer it. NTFS should not be used by anyone who values their data. Not even the data recovery tools which are NTFS compatible (or so they say) work right with it.