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Ext3 or ext4? Which Would You Recommend?
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!
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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?
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... :-)
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
Regards
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