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Author Topic: Format to EXT2 or EXT3?  (Read 27725 times)

Weewtow

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Format to EXT2 or EXT3?
« on: October 14, 2009, 04:39:41 AM »
I am loading the new firmware into the DNS-321.  When formatting, what would be the best option: EXT2 OR EXT3?

Thanks.
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gunrunnerjohn

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Re: Format to EXT2 or EXT3?
« Reply #1 on: October 14, 2009, 05:51:45 AM »
Well, EXT3 has journaling which should be more robust, but EXT2 is somewhat faster since there is less disk activity.  You can take your choice. :)
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Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Remember: Data you don't have two copies of is data you don't care about!
PS: RAID of any level is NOT a second copy.

Weewtow

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Re: Format to EXT2 or EXT3?
« Reply #2 on: October 14, 2009, 01:52:01 PM »
How might EXT3 benefit a user?  Is it worth the slower performance?

Thanks.
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gunrunnerjohn

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Re: Format to EXT2 or EXT3?
« Reply #3 on: October 14, 2009, 02:02:41 PM »
Like I said, the disk is less likely to suffer corruption with EXT3.  If the power is interrupted in the middle of a write with EXT2, you potentially have a corrupted file or directory.  With a journaling filesystem, the data is first written to a journal area on the disk, then when the write is complete, they're moved to the filesystem.  If the write fails to the filesystem, the journal records are still available for recovery.

It's up to you to determine if this is worthwhile to you.
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Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Remember: Data you don't have two copies of is data you don't care about!
PS: RAID of any level is NOT a second copy.

JoeSchmuck

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Re: Format to EXT2 or EXT3?
« Reply #4 on: October 18, 2009, 06:33:45 AM »
Quote from: gunrunnerjohn on October 14, 2009, 02:02:41 PM
Like I said, the disk is less likely to suffer corruption with EXT3.  If the power is interrupted in the middle of a write with EXT2, you potentially have a corrupted file or directory.  With a journaling filesystem, the data is first written to a journal area on the disk, then when the write is complete, they're moved to the filesystem.  If the write fails to the filesystem, the journal records are still available for recovery.

It's up to you to determine if this is worthwhile to you.

I did check out the speed difference between EXT2 and EXT3, and my tests show peak 17.6 MB/sec with EXT2 and 13.2 MB/sec with EXT3 (9k jumbo frames enabled) and your results may vary.

I'll have to read up on journaling and what it is since I've seen that referenced a lot.  But if EXT3 has a safety net over EXT2, the minor speed loss over data safety appears reasonable to me.

-Joe
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gunrunnerjohn

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Re: Format to EXT2 or EXT3?
« Reply #5 on: October 18, 2009, 06:37:39 AM »
Hmm...  a 25% speed reduction seems more than "a small amount". :)
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Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Remember: Data you don't have two copies of is data you don't care about!
PS: RAID of any level is NOT a second copy.

JoeSchmuck

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Re: Format to EXT2 or EXT3?
« Reply #6 on: October 18, 2009, 06:57:10 AM »
Quote from: gunrunnerjohn on October 18, 2009, 06:37:39 AM
Hmm...  a 25% speed reduction seems more than "a small amount". :)

Well when you say it like that...  I didn't think of it that way for sure.  But those were the highest throughputs I saw, sustained was a little lower for 1GB or larger file sizes.  But for myself I feel it's a good tradeoff.  And to be honest, if I needed a faster NAS, I'd have built a FreeNAS box.  I'd had one before and it worked like a champ but it just consumed too much power for what I wanted or needed, but it was fast!

-Joe
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gunrunnerjohn

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Re: Format to EXT2 or EXT3?
« Reply #7 on: October 18, 2009, 07:02:43 AM »
That's the reason I stopped using a spare machine as a NAS, it was eating a lot of power.  I'd much rather have a box that idles at 6W than at 150W.  ;D  Since I have two NAS units, that would be 300W vs. 12W, do the math and it doesn't take long to spend quite a bit of money on power and A/C.
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Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Remember: Data you don't have two copies of is data you don't care about!
PS: RAID of any level is NOT a second copy.

TheWitness

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Re: Format to EXT2 or EXT3?
« Reply #8 on: December 29, 2009, 10:23:31 AM »
Quote from: gunrunnerjohn on October 18, 2009, 07:02:43 AM
That's the reason I stopped using a spare machine as a NAS, it was eating a lot of power.  I'd much rather have a box that idles at 6W than at 150W.  ;D  Since I have two NAS units, that would be 300W vs. 12W, do the math and it doesn't take long to spend quite a bit of money on power and A/C.

I'm with you here.  I have two NAS'.  The first is the Buffalo Linkstation HG300 and the second is the DNS321.  I'm happy with the unit despite some of my posts about "proper" support for things like uPNP, which DLink is not doing.

TheWitness
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ogpala

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Re: Format to EXT2 or EXT3?
« Reply #9 on: April 22, 2011, 09:09:36 PM »
Anybody know how to convert EXT2 to EXT3 without reformatting the HDs?
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Weewtow

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Re: Format to EXT2 or EXT3?
« Reply #10 on: April 30, 2011, 05:55:58 AM »
I copied the data off to another drive then reformatted to EXT3.  Then I copied the data back.
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