[CLOSED]migrating from Reiser3 to ext3, looking for experienced advice

Cyrusm · 2009-12-28 16:47:38

So I've been using the Reiser3 file system since I first installed Arch a few years back. I originally chose it because it is fast on small files and because it handles crashes very well. but due to the fact that reiser3 is no longer being actively developed, and since I do not want to migrate to reiser4, I've been toying with the idea of migrating to ext3 for my /home and root partitions.

currently my system is running more smoothly than ever, so I want to come up with a good plan before I go and break everything and lose all of my data. I was wondering if anyone else in the Arch community has made this transfer and has any tips or pitfalls I should watch out for.

my plan thus far:
1.) BACKUP EVERYTHING IMPORTANT!!! (because this probably isn't going to work like I think it should)
2.) create ext3 partition on an external hard drive, and copy home and root partitions to said partition.
3.) boot from gparted live cd and reformat my partitions to ext3.
4.) copy home and root from the external hard-drive back to the newly reformatted partitions.

so basically I'm wondering, should I even make this switch? my system is running well, and I haven't had any problems with reiser3.
I am, however, concerned about it's lack of recent development and want to switch to a system that's advancing with the rest of Linux.

what do you think?

Last edited by Cyrusm (2009-12-28 22:02:52)

graysky · 2009-12-28 17:45:10

If it ain't broke... if you do make the switch, why are you considering ext3? I would suggest ext4 which handles small and large files quickly as well as gives quick fsck runs.

Cyrusm · 2009-12-28 18:17:17

I'm considering ext4 as an option as well, but I was planning on ext3 because of it's tried and true stability. I'm still researching on both to decide which will fit my needs better in the long run. and as far as "if it ain't broke don't fix it" nothing's really broken on my arch install in a while and I'm kind of looking to break something just for the fun of fixing it again. (my personal version of the arch way...)

vacant · 2009-12-28 18:38:21

I used reiserfs for many years, many partitions, many distros and had no problems. Every now and then I'd use ext3 but there were a few issues. I got a new laptop in January and decided to take the plunge: shrunk vista, small ext2 /boot and the rest set up as an encrypted partition with LVM2, all logical volumes set up as ext4 (except swap!). I've been very impressed with ext4 stability.

Oh, and step (5) edit fstab to reflect the new file systems, make sure /etc/mtab doesn't exist.

Ghost1227 · 2009-12-28 18:40:06

I'm not the right person to ask... I just switched back to reiser after loosing an entire partition to ext3 corruption. Granted that's likely the exception rather than the rule...

Dheart · 2009-12-28 21:01:44

If you want to move away from reiserfs, fine but DON'T swap it for ext3. Pacman's db search would take about 10 times longer and I also had some issues with lost files (but that was due to old HDD, not ext3) and really really really slow mandatory disk check.
Consider some other file system but not ext3.

Cyrusm · 2009-12-28 22:02:06

well, after further research and several personal opinions, I think the best move for now will be to stick with reiser3. ext2-4 aren't exactly what I'm looking for, reiser4 sounds like a pain to get set up (according to the wiki page). reiser works well for everything I need so there really isn't any sense into moving to a filesystem that several other people seem to be having problems with.

lucke · 2009-12-28 22:44:14

I'd say that if you want to fiddle a bit, moving to ext4 would certainly be a good move - you don't really lose in any aspect and gain in some. Even if you decide to stay with reiser3, you might want to tar things up, create fresh filesystem(s) and untar things, because, if I remember correctly, reiser filesystems tend to fragment quite a bit.

Last edited by lucke (2009-12-28 22:45:22)

Arch Linux

#1 2009-12-28 16:47:38

[CLOSED]migrating from Reiser3 to ext3, looking for experienced advice

#2 2009-12-28 17:45:10

Re: [CLOSED]migrating from Reiser3 to ext3, looking for experienced advice

#3 2009-12-28 18:17:17

Re: [CLOSED]migrating from Reiser3 to ext3, looking for experienced advice

#4 2009-12-28 18:38:21

Re: [CLOSED]migrating from Reiser3 to ext3, looking for experienced advice

#5 2009-12-28 18:40:06

Re: [CLOSED]migrating from Reiser3 to ext3, looking for experienced advice

#6 2009-12-28 21:01:44

Re: [CLOSED]migrating from Reiser3 to ext3, looking for experienced advice

#7 2009-12-28 22:02:06

Re: [CLOSED]migrating from Reiser3 to ext3, looking for experienced advice

#8 2009-12-28 22:44:14

Re: [CLOSED]migrating from Reiser3 to ext3, looking for experienced advice

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