Arch Linux

attila

Member

Registered: 2006-11-14

Posts: 293

Re: Partition guide....

Nice to see that there be more JFS fans

From my view there is a very important point: pacman is only slow if you run it for the first time. The second or later run is even fast enough.

Second point is that you can find this only out if you mess it with a separate /var partition and tests with different filesystems on the same system and the same machine. I never do this because i don't think that the difference is so much that it is worth to think about a filesystem which is only the best for pacman. Switching later to another filesystem for /var on a separate partiton is very easy to do because you need only boot in runlevel 1, backup the files, format with another filesystem and copy the files back ... that seems all from my view.

A note to reiserfs: You pay with CPU load for this feature with small files. On new, current machines you won't recognize this but i used in the past a server with an mini itx board. There i recognized that my leafnode and cyrus on the /var partition get slower and slower. After putting notail in my fstab for this partition all works fine again.

I don't want to say that reiserfs is bad or not good, i want only to say that choosing the right filesystem is not so easy and it depends on more than only one thing. And it is better to decide for one than to think and to think and to think ...

KimTjik

Member

From: Sweden

Registered: 2007-08-22

Posts: 715

Re: Partition guide....

Thanks for the replies bangkok_manouel and iBertus! I'll keep that in mind. Maybe I include ReiserFS in the mix, but it'll look in to it more since /var might as well be predominately used for other tasks.

Mr Green

Forum Fellow

From: U.K.

Registered: 2003-12-21

Posts: 5,914

Website

Re: Partition guide....

.... I will try reiserfs on /var :-) I'll check speeds using hdparm

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Mr Green

Mr Green

Forum Fellow

From: U.K.

Registered: 2003-12-21

Posts: 5,914

Website

Re: Partition guide....

ok ....I thought about it and I have set drive like this....

 
    sdc1      Boot     Primary  Linux ext2               /boot         98.7
    sdc5                    Logical   Linux ext3               / root       51202.37
    sdc6                    Logical   Linux ReiserFS        /var           10240.48
    sdc3                    Primary   Linux ext3                /home      102396.52
    sdc4                    Primary   Linux ext3               /media        336167.20

let me know if it looks ok, ... before I transfer data

Thanks

MrG

Last edited by Mr Green (2008-07-17 05:28:41)

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Mr Green

Mr Green

Forum Fellow

From: U.K.

Registered: 2003-12-21

Posts: 5,914

Website

Re: Partition guide....

*boing

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Mr Green

bangkok_manouel

Member

From: indicates a starting point

Registered: 2005-02-07

Posts: 1,556

Re: Partition guide....

well, maybe you could specify the mountpoints to have a better idea of what you want to do...
where's your swap btw ? another HD ?

Mr Green

Forum Fellow

From: U.K.

Registered: 2003-12-21

Posts: 5,914

Website

Re: Partition guide....

ooops sorry yes was gong to run swapless

or I could add swap to new drive and /media on another drive .... ?

MrG

Last edited by Mr Green (2008-07-17 05:29:45)

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Mr Green

entropic_existence

Member

Registered: 2008-05-20

Posts: 14

Re: Partition guide....

Swap twice ram is outdated. 512 MB should be enough for anyone.

not really. if you suspend to disk/swap you need at least so much swap space as you have ram.

Or if you a lot of memory intensive applications, like on a workstation. I've been told it is still a good idea to do 1.5x to 2x the RAM for that sort of workstation. I have 16GB in the new one I am currently setting up with Arch Linux

Zeist

Arch Linux f@h Team Member

Registered: 2008-07-04

Posts: 532

Re: Partition guide....

Swap twice ram is outdated. 512 MB should be enough for anyone.

not really. if you suspend to disk/swap you need at least so much swap space as you have ram.

Or if you a lot of memory intensive applications, like on a workstation. I've been told it is still a good idea to do 1.5x to 2x the RAM for that sort of workstation. I have 16GB in the new one I am currently setting up with Arch Linux

Wouldn't it still make more sense to have more swap on a workstation with less ram than on a workstation with more ram. For example a workstation with 4gb of ram is more likely to use up more swap than a workstation with 8gb of ram is.

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I haven't lost my mind; I have a tape back-up somewhere.
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entropic_existence

Member

Registered: 2008-05-20

Posts: 14

Re: Partition guide....

not really. if you suspend to disk/swap you need at least so much swap space as you have ram.

Or if you a lot of memory intensive applications, like on a workstation. I've been told it is still a good idea to do 1.5x to 2x the RAM for that sort of workstation. I have 16GB in the new one I am currently setting up with Arch Linux

Wouldn't it still make more sense to have more swap on a workstation with less ram than on a workstation with more ram. For example a workstation with 4gb of ram is more likely to use up more swap than a workstation with 8gb of ram is.

The point is that you still need a large swap space. Going by the old rule of thumb then they both need something like 1x to 2x RAM so the 4GB needs somewhere between 4 and 8GB of swap and the 8GB machine needs somewhere between 8 and 16GB of swap space. My point was merely that the "you don't need large swap spaces anymore" isn't true for people running workstations with memory intensive applications.