Best filesystem for external hard drive?

sidc · 2008-12-15 17:59:34

I just bought a Maxtor Basics 1 TB external hard drive. I think the current filesystem it is using is NTFS. Should I stick with it, or should I reformat it to ext3( or something better?). What are the advantages and disadvantages?. Primary use is in linux.

Zariel · 2008-12-15 18:13:32

If your ever going to use it on windows then NTFS is your only choice

arch0r · 2008-12-15 18:35:03

if you primary use it in linux and not share the drive with windows users i recommend an ext filesystem which is also mountable (readable + writeable) in windows with ext filesystem drivers

Last edited by arch0r (2008-12-15 18:35:51)

thayer · 2008-12-15 18:45:45

As mentioned, it really depends on your environment. If you use Windows more than Linux, an NTFS partition may be more appropriate. If you use Linux more than Windows, then an ext3/4 partition would seem more suitable. Either format is accessible from the other Operating System by the use of filesystem drivers.

My 120GB external is ext3 and I appreciate the fact that it can maintain permissions for the files archived from my Arch installation.

Inxsible · 2008-12-15 18:55:04

I agree with the above opinions as well.

I have a 500 Gig external drive that I have formatted as Ext3 -- since I use Arch only at home. But at the same time, I have kept a 320gb portable drive as FAT32 (it came as such). This is because I use that drive to share data with other people who do not use Linux much. So its better to have a format that Windows understands instead of having to install the fs-driver on each of their machines.

Last edited by Inxsible (2008-12-15 18:55:30)

sidc · 2008-12-15 19:04:17

I use only linux. And I'd much rather not worry about the problems of ntfs-3g compared to installing the fs-driver on their machines. Thanks for the opinions. I formatted it in ext3.

Last edited by sidc (2008-12-15 19:04:57)

sidc · 2008-12-15 19:11:12

After formatting in ext3, I see only 878 GB free. I had 925 GB before formatting(in NTFS). Does the filesystem type affect the amount of free space available?

lucke · 2008-12-15 19:53:58

ext reserves 5% disk space for root. tune2fs -r 0 /dev/sdX to disable it.

Last edited by lucke (2008-12-15 19:54:22)

R00KIE · 2008-12-15 22:35:21

Wouldn't one have to tweak also the permissions to be able to use it everywhere without much hassle? What I mean is to be able to use it at home and at a friend's house and so on?

sidc · 2008-12-16 00:34:20

lucke wrote:

ext reserves 5% disk space for root. tune2fs -r 0 /dev/sdX to disable it.

Thanks.

axl · 2008-12-16 23:18:16

Hey guys,

I'd like to get back to this topic again. I'll use two or three external drives for backup purposes. Linux only system, fully encrypted data partitions everywhere. My main question is what you recommend for reliability and/or performance. Files are mainly big digital pics out of my DSLR and lossless audio rips (I want to use my PCs as jukeboxes). Does xfs offer an advantage over ext3?

Thanks,
Axel

smurnjiff · 2008-12-16 23:52:07

As long as you don't plan to boot from the harddrive, XFS should be fine.

lucke · 2008-12-16 23:55:05

xfs is great for big files, but so is ext4. xfs sucks with small files, ext4 doesn't. ext4 by default offers safer journaling, but it will be easily available only with the next kernel release, which should come soon, and might be regarded as more hazardous than well-tested xfs. Converting a filesystem from ext3 to ext4 is trivial, but you'd have to move the old files around to make them use extents.

I myself have moved my /home partition, holding mostly big files, to ext4 from xfs, but that's because of its better small file performance.

Zariel · 2008-12-17 13:37:17

Dont be a pussy and use btrfs

I'd go with ext3 to be honest, though if i were to just use it on linux i'd reiserFS it.

iBertus · 2008-12-17 13:41:31

+1 for JFS! I've got a few external drives formatted with this FS and haven't had any issues.

GogglesGuy · 2008-12-18 20:51:44

Is ext4 already reliable? I thought it was still in development? What are its advantages over ext3?

nick.stumpos · 2008-12-18 21:39:50

im using ext4 on my notebook with fedora core 10 installed. works like a champ, but i personally dont think its seen enought action to be used on my backups. heres a good list of changes. http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux … &ca=dgf-ip

Last edited by nick.stumpos (2008-12-18 21:41:57)

R00KIE · 2008-12-20 14:15:04

On linux I haven't tried anything else besides ext2 and ext3 so I can't say anything about other filesystems but if it is for backups I would try to choose a filesystem that has the better support / higher number of recovery tools available / best reliability. I wouldn't care about performance.
As for ext4 it is being marked as stable for the next release of the kernel I believe but as nick.stumpos said I would stay away from it until it has been in use for more time.

Arch Linux

#1 2008-12-15 17:59:34

Best filesystem for external hard drive?

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Re: Best filesystem for external hard drive?

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