ReiserFS vs. ext2

[eXtremist]

I installed Mandrake 8 last night, and I'm gonna install it once more to get all the packages just right. I've been reading a lot here about ReiserFS.. Is there any big advantage (ie. speed, security) to using Reiser over ext2?

Since I am reinstalling, what would you guys suggest I use?

[Lorithar]

As I understand it Reiserfs is a journalling file system.
The major advantage to this is that one can recover from system failures faster and with less loss of data. Further journalling file systems are faster in that they tend to regulate file read/write processes better as well as organizing the file system into a more efficient space use/management structure.

I'm not 100% on the details but those I've seen running it are quite pleased with the improvement in a) space useage and b) speed of recovery.

Reiserfs is still a challenge to install .. (I've converted one of my partitions to Reiser and use it as a work/temp installation directory) ... I've never had a problem with it.. It can be a neat project and I believe it can teach you something about disk usage. If this is to be a solid production box, you might want to think twice about putting this in.

[Molecule Man]

It is not a challenge when can choose it during the install of MDK.

Reiserfs is also not subject to slack like other file systems.

You are probably aware of cluster sizes in FAT file systems. If you have a cluster size of 4k, then ifyou have a file that is only 1k, it still takes up 4k. 3k gets wasted, and the wasted space is called slack. Reiserfs does not use clusters, hence no slack.

[binary_boy]

I believe Lorithar and Molecule Man have covered it well. I read somewhere, I can't remember where, that for speed, ReiserFS is better if there are many many small files in a directory. If you have large files though, there is little speed improvement over ext2.

I converted my partitions to Reiser and have had no problems. You never have to wait through excrutiating fscks at boot-up when the OS has decided a partition has been mounted too many times.

As for speed, I really haven't noticed much difference from ext2.

[Ashcrow]

Maybe it's just me, but when I used ReiserFS I had a big speed increase. I tested it out on Mandrake 7.1 and Slackware 7.1. Could have been a fluke.

[Craig McPherson]

Advantages of ReiserFS:

-Journaling (Fscking after an improper shutdown takes about 1% the time of ext2)
-Speed (Relatively small -- measurable by benchmarks, but not noticable by most people)
-Space savings (Relatively small)
-Leetness (Very, very large)

There are a few disadvantages:

-No support for attributes.
-No support for choosing bsd vs. sysv group option, and other such mount options.
-Still officially in the testing stages -- problems could arise.

So unless you need support for attributes, or for mount options that ReiserFS doesn't support, the third disadvantage is the only one you'd need to worry about. I trust ReiserFS as much as I trust Ext2, so go ahead and give it a try -- but you might want to be a little bit more attentive about making sure any critical data is regularly backed up, just in case something does go wrong. Things have gone wrong (a laptop going into powersave would wipe out early ReiserFS filesystems), and though I think they have all the bugs worked out, you can never be too safe.

[MkIII_Supra]

Been using ReiserFS with `Drake systems since 7.0, love it and never had a problem with it. I prefer it over ext2fs any day. fsck? What's that!? Seriously, I have done some non-scientific experiments, like grab 2G of stuff and copy it from one disk to anather while compiling some software then shutting the system off by turning the main power off. Then restarting the system.

Added 17 seconds to my boot time and recommenced the file transfer. The compile was fragged but I managed to recover that pretty easy enough.

Bottom line for a beta FS I am very impressed. :D

[The Whizzard]

Originally posted by MkIII_Supra:
<STRONG>
Added 17 seconds to my boot time and recommenced the file transfer. </STRONG>
I resumed the file transfer? Now that is something I thought could never happen. I used reiser for the few weeks I was running MDK7.2 and loved reiser, but haven't tried puting it on my Debian install yet. I just may have to make it a priority.