Welcome to the Linux Foundation Forum!
Ext3 or ext4? Which Would You Recommend?
GrouchoMarxist
Posts: 56
in Storage
When I first installed Ubuntu onto my System76 laptop, I formatted the drive as ext3 for the drive format as it was the default setting. However, in the coming months I am going to be fixing up old computers in order for them to be used again. With that being said, should I format the drives with ext3 or ext4? Concurrently, what are the technical and performance differences between the two?
Thank you to whomever helps me solve this quandary!
0
Comments
-
I switched to ext4 exclusively about 6 months ago, I was running ext3 and watching the reviews and bug reports for ext4 until I felt that is was safe enough for my /home directory. I ran it on my /boot and /root partitions for almost 2 years before trusting it with my important data. I've never had a problem with ext4, even through power outages and system blow ups. The only thing I've been hearing lately is that folks are experiencing a regression in speed on ext4. I haven't noticed that myself, but I thought I would mention it.0
-
Goineasy9 wrote:I switched to ext4 exclusively about 6 months ago, I was running ext3 and watching the reviews and bug reports for ext4 until I felt that is was safe enough for my /home directory. I ran it on my /boot and /root partitions for almost 2 years before trusting it with my important data. I've never had a problem with ext4, even through power outages and system blow ups. The only thing I've been hearing lately is that folks are experiencing a regression in speed on ext4. I haven't noticed that myself, but I thought I would mention it.
No worries. Is there a way to "upgrade" in a sense my ext3 to ext4 without losing data? Or, would this be a matter of reinstalling (in my case) Ubuntu?0 -
Yes you can convert and ext3 filesystem to ext4, please read http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Ext4#Converting_an_ext3_filesystem_to_ext4
Don't forget to update your /etc/fstab file and your bootloader to reflect the new partition type.0 -
mfillpot wrote:Yes you can convert and ext3 filesystem to ext4, please read http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Ext4#Converting_an_ext3_filesystem_to_ext4
Don't forget to update your /etc/fstab file and your bootloader to reflect the new partition type.
Actually, ext2/3/4 are basically ext2 file systems, but ext3 and ext4 add journaling for better and faster recovery from power failures, system crashes, etc. There are mostly philosophical differences in how the journaling is done between ext3 and 4. Either will serve you well. I am currently running ext4 on all my new drives and arrays, but /home is ext3 on a logical volume (4x500GB drives). I decided not to convert it to ext4 when I upgraded my OS to RHEL6 (Scientific Linux 6 actually). Sort of the old adage - if it ain't broke... :-)0 -
I waited quite a while till ext4 was stable ... it's stable enough now, with many advantages, it's my choice now for all my partitions.0
-
Without a doubt ext4
Ext4 supports all of ext2/ext3 functionallities and a *lot* more.
The one I like the most: *fast* file system checking (and formating)
You've got barriers as well as delayed allocation and many many other things.
Trust me: go for ext4
Regards0 -
In the case of production stability ext4 might be a bit of a scare for the more conservative, not that I have noticed anything but on the other I've not seen any test on the stability on high I/O storage systems (for that I use ZFS) and also if you feel the need to have a great /home partiton filesystem I would look at xfs since that + LVM equals awsome...
Here are some fun reading: http://www-958.ibm.com/software/data/cognos/manyeyes/datasets/89ade5ae14209c140114bcee8c082d35/versions/1
Also a mention to prevent flamewars the when at the crossroad of selecting Filesystem I most often run with a simple use what you think is right. Like stated the difference between ext2 and ext4 is mainly in the journal and around 20 years of age. New is not allways better though.
0 -
Stick with ext4.0
-
I've been using Ext4 for about 5-6 months now, I have never had a problem with it. Seems fast and stable to me.0
Categories
- All Categories
- 51 LFX Mentorship
- 104 LFX Mentorship: Linux Kernel
- 576 Linux Foundation IT Professional Programs
- 304 Cloud Engineer IT Professional Program
- 125 Advanced Cloud Engineer IT Professional Program
- 53 DevOps Engineer IT Professional Program
- 61 Cloud Native Developer IT Professional Program
- 6 Express Training Courses
- 6 Express Courses - Discussion Forum
- 2.1K Training Courses
- 19 LFC110 Class Forum
- 7 LFC131 Class Forum
- 27 LFD102 Class Forum
- 158 LFD103 Class Forum
- 21 LFD121 Class Forum
- 1 LFD137 Class Forum
- 61 LFD201 Class Forum
- 1 LFD210 Class Forum
- LFD210-CN Class Forum
- 1 LFD213 Class Forum - Discontinued
- 128 LFD232 Class Forum
- LFD237 Class Forum
- 23 LFD254 Class Forum
- 613 LFD259 Class Forum
- 105 LFD272 Class Forum
- 1 LFD272-JP クラス フォーラム
- 1 LFD273 Class Forum
- 2 LFS145 Class Forum
- 25 LFS200 Class Forum
- 739 LFS201 Class Forum
- 1 LFS201-JP クラス フォーラム
- 11 LFS203 Class Forum
- 77 LFS207 Class Forum
- 300 LFS211 Class Forum
- 54 LFS216 Class Forum
- 47 LFS241 Class Forum
- 41 LFS242 Class Forum
- 37 LFS243 Class Forum
- 11 LFS244 Class Forum
- 37 LFS250 Class Forum
- 1 LFS250-JP クラス フォーラム
- LFS251 Class Forum
- 141 LFS253 Class Forum
- LFS254 Class Forum
- 1.1K LFS258 Class Forum
- 10 LFS258-JP クラス フォーラム
- 93 LFS260 Class Forum
- 132 LFS261 Class Forum
- 33 LFS262 Class Forum
- 80 LFS263 Class Forum
- 15 LFS264 Class Forum
- 11 LFS266 Class Forum
- 18 LFS267 Class Forum
- 18 LFS268 Class Forum
- 23 LFS269 Class Forum
- 203 LFS272 Class Forum
- 1 LFS272-JP クラス フォーラム
- LFS274 Class Forum
- LFS281 Class Forum
- 236 LFW211 Class Forum
- 172 LFW212 Class Forum
- 7 SKF100 Class Forum
- SKF200 Class Forum
- 903 Hardware
- 219 Drivers
- 74 I/O Devices
- 44 Monitors
- 116 Multimedia
- 209 Networking
- 101 Printers & Scanners
- 85 Storage
- 763 Linux Distributions
- 88 Debian
- 66 Fedora
- 15 Linux Mint
- 13 Mageia
- 24 openSUSE
- 142 Red Hat Enterprise
- 33 Slackware
- 13 SUSE Enterprise
- 357 Ubuntu
- 479 Linux System Administration
- 41 Cloud Computing
- 70 Command Line/Scripting
- Github systems admin projects
- 95 Linux Security
- 78 Network Management
- 108 System Management
- 49 Web Management
- 68 Mobile Computing
- 23 Android
- 30 Development
- 1.2K New to Linux
- 1.1K Getting Started with Linux
- 538 Off Topic
- 131 Introductions
- 217 Small Talk
- 22 Study Material
- 826 Programming and Development
- 278 Kernel Development
- 514 Software Development
- 928 Software
- 260 Applications
- 184 Command Line
- 3 Compiling/Installing
- 76 Games
- 316 Installation
- 61 All In Program
- 61 All In Forum
Upcoming Training
-
August 20, 2018
Kubernetes Administration (LFS458)
-
August 20, 2018
Linux System Administration (LFS301)
-
August 27, 2018
Open Source Virtualization (LFS462)
-
August 27, 2018
Linux Kernel Debugging and Security (LFD440)