Arch Linux

aardwolf

Member

From: Belgium

Registered: 2005-07-23

Posts: 305

ext3 or ext4

Hello,

When installing Archlinux on a new computer, which do you think would be the best choice of file system: ext3 or ext4?

Does ext4 still have potential instability issues, or is it very reliable now?

Is there maybe another filesystem I should look at instead?

Thanks!

litemotiv

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2008-08-01

Posts: 5,026

Re: ext3 or ext4

Go for ext4, it's faster and stable.

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Damnshock

Member

From: Barcelona

Registered: 2006-09-13

Posts: 414

Re: ext3 or ext4

Ext4 with no doubt

XFS would be a nice option if you are dealing with large files (AFAIK)

Regards

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cybertorture

Member

Registered: 2010-05-05

Posts: 339

Re: ext3 or ext4

ext4 for pentium 3 (and equivalents ) with 512 or more memory, ext3 if system is below that

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O' rly ? Ya rly Oo

DSpider

Member

From: Romania

Registered: 2009-08-23

Posts: 2,273

Re: ext3 or ext4

JFS is probably better for something slower than a Pentium III, at least for the root drive + ext4 for storage partitions.

Otherwise, ext4 all the way.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Be … stem_types

Last edited by DSpider (2012-02-08 13:49:59)

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"How to Succeed with Linux"

I have made a personal commitment not to reply in topics that start with a lowercase letter. Proper grammar and punctuation is a sign of respect, and if you do not show any, you will NOT receive any help (at least not from me).

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: ext3 or ext4

ext3's fsck times are pretty slow. I have a 40 GB ext3 and it's painful. I literally grab a cup of coffee while waiting for it to finish. It takes minutes.
My other box is 80 GB ext4 and fsck takes just a couple extra seconds compared to the regular (w/o fsck) boot.

You can tweak both filesystems, depending whether you want to be safe or get extra speed (things like barriers=0) http://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation … s/ext4.txt

cybertorture

Member

Registered: 2010-05-05

Posts: 339

Re: ext3 or ext4

In addition ext4 have some performance issues if you export it via nfs for large numbers of small files , otherwise its pretty good and reliable.

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O' rly ? Ya rly Oo

aardwolf

Member

From: Belgium

Registered: 2005-07-23

Posts: 305

Re: ext3 or ext4

ext4 for pentium 3 (and equivalents ) with 512 or more memory, ext3 if system is below that

Wow, now that is historical!

mich04

Member

From: Illinois - United States

Registered: 2011-10-25

Posts: 390

Re: ext3 or ext4

It depends,
if you are running an ssd hard drive in this new computer you should install ext4 since it gives support for it.

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I love computers, networking and Arch Linux. Sometimes I might ask a stupid question, but please have grace with me like I would with you.