/var partition: ext4 or ReiserFS?

Surgat_ · 2009-02-12 10:53:02

Hello there,

I'm waiting for the new ISO release to reinstall my whole system and I've been thinking about partitioning. I'm going to make a separate /boot partition and another one for multimedia files, with ext4 on the multimedia one and /, and ext2 for /boot. The thing comes when I remember a lot of people recommending a separate partition for /var on ReiserFS (or even Reiser4), but have never seen it again since ext4 came stable. So, has anyone tested /var under ext4 and can compare pacman's performance against Reiser?

Thank you all.
Cheers!

kgas · 2009-02-12 15:26:47

IMO if you want to keep your log files growing you can switch to ext4. I am using resierfs for /var and flushing out the log files using logrotate. It is proven that resierfs is faster with smaller size files. For benchmarking of fs this link may help http://www.linuxinsight.com/first_bench … ystem.html

DonVla · 2009-02-12 16:33:43

kgas wrote:

It is proven that resierfs is faster with smaller size files.

"they" say it is faster, but i used reiserfs for /var and now i'm using ext3. i see/feel no remarkable difference.
so i would recommend ext4.
reiserfs is dying anyway.

Surgat_ · 2009-02-13 12:30:49

kgas wrote:

IMO if you want to keep your log files growing you can switch to ext4. I am using resierfs for /var and flushing out the log files using logrotate. It is proven that resierfs is faster with smaller size files. For benchmarking of fs this link may help http://www.linuxinsight.com/first_bench … ystem.html

I also use logrotate, but, according to that link, ext4 is better than reiser when creating a lot of small files, which is what pacman does when syncing the database. It also reads a lot of small files when consulting the database, but that hasn't been benchmarked yet, I've searched through the web a bit and haven't found any.

Anyone else has tried ext4 on /var and compared it to reiser?

Isengrin · 2009-02-13 17:18:03

A few days ago I started using reiserfs on /var, and at least in my system the difference is remarkable. But haven't used ext4 either, I'll try it on my little sister's lap.

fwojciec · 2009-02-13 17:41:57

I wouldn't bother with reiserfs at this stage -- ext4 is at least as fast if not faster. I'd also advise against using a separate /var partition, since you'll be always either wasting unused hd space or running out of space on it.

@kgas: that benchmark compares ext4 and reiser4 not reiserfs.

Mogger · 2009-02-15 20:32:53

I'm interested in this as well - currently I use reiserfs for /var, since I've read that it handles smaller files better. Ext3 for everything else except /boot, which is Ext2.

If there isn't much difference between ext4 and reiserfs on /var, I think I'll follow fwojciec's suggestion and skip a separate /var partition. Would this have any disadvantages?

TheGrudge · 2009-02-26 17:32:25

I have used ext4 for /var 2 days now, but I will go back to reiserfs. ext4 with barriers is much too slow, see the other thread about this: http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=65341

Especially when used with sqlite, ext4 is the slowest FS I've ever seen. For my media drive where my digiKam DB is living, I need to either disable barriers or switch back to reiserfs or ext3. Problem is, the media drive is 300 GB big and I have no space left to move those files too

kgas · 2009-06-13 11:14:02

In one of the fresh install /var was put on xfs file system(default options). pacman takes long time to get synchronised where us /var with resierfs is fast in another install.
xfs was converted to resierfs and pacman -Sy is much faster. This is the recent experience with xfs.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-02-12 10:53:02

/var partition: ext4 or ReiserFS?

#2 2009-02-12 15:26:47

Re: /var partition: ext4 or ReiserFS?

#3 2009-02-12 16:33:43

Re: /var partition: ext4 or ReiserFS?

#4 2009-02-13 12:30:49

Re: /var partition: ext4 or ReiserFS?

#5 2009-02-13 17:18:03

Re: /var partition: ext4 or ReiserFS?

#6 2009-02-13 17:41:57

Re: /var partition: ext4 or ReiserFS?

#7 2009-02-15 20:32:53

Re: /var partition: ext4 or ReiserFS?

#8 2009-02-26 17:32:25

Re: /var partition: ext4 or ReiserFS?

#9 2009-06-13 11:14:02

Re: /var partition: ext4 or ReiserFS?

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