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View Full Version : Linux filesystems (ext3, ext4, etc...) healthier for a harddrive than NTFS filesystem



wpLOL
April 26th, 2010, 10:45 PM
I was just wondering, are Linux filesystems healthier on a hard drive than a Windows filesystem? I was thinking because Ext3/4 don't suffer from disk fragmentation nearly as bad as NTFS does, also file transfers/Unpacking files are much, much faster than on Windows.

MasterNetra
April 26th, 2010, 10:55 PM
I was just wondering, are Linux filesystems healthier on a hard drive than a Windows filesystem? I was thinking because Ext3/4 don't suffer from disk fragmentation nearly as bad as NTFS does, also file transfers/Unpacking files are much, much faster than on Windows.

Well its healthier for your system as fragmenting occurs much more slowly. As for physically I would say ext2 and just about any file system that doesn't do file journaling would be better as there would be less writing, but then again constantly using (moving, creating, copying, and pasting files) a drive occupied with ext2 would wear down the hard drive faster then a barely used ntfs one.

My $0.04

renkinjutsu
April 26th, 2010, 10:59 PM
yes, the linux filesystems don't fragment nearly as much as ntfs but both ext3 and ext4 write to disk everytime a file is access to change its atime. A lot of disk writes can wear down your harddrive. There are ways around it though (noatime mount option)

wpLOL
April 26th, 2010, 11:05 PM
Well its healthier for your system as fragmenting occurs much more slowly. As for physically I would say ext2 and just about any file system that doesn't do file journaling would be better as there would be less writing, but then again constantly using (moving, creating, copying, and pasting files) a drive occupied with ext2 would wear down the hard drive faster then a barely used ntfs one.

My $0.04

Yeah, my parents use Windows Vista on their computers, their hard drives are constantly doing something, as you can hear it working, yet, you're not actually do anything, no file transfers, programs running, etc... but on Ubuntu, my hard drive is completely quiet, I only hear it when I'm running programs, watching movies, etc...


yes, the linux filesystems don't fragment nearly as much as ntfs but both ext3 and ext4 write to disk everytime a file is access to change its atime. A lot of disk writes can wear down your harddrive. There are ways around it though (noatime mount option)

That's what I was thinking too

speedwell68
April 26th, 2010, 11:28 PM
Off on a slight tangent of curiosity. Are there any defrag programs available for Linux? It is something I have largely forgotten about doing since I started using Ubuntu exclusively about 4 years ago.

MasterNetra
April 26th, 2010, 11:32 PM
Yeah, my parents use Windows Vista on their computers, their hard drives are constantly doing something, as you can hear it working, yet, you're not actually do anything, no file transfers, programs running, etc... but on Ubuntu, my hard drive is completely quiet, I only hear it when I'm running programs, watching movies, etc...



That's what I was thinking too

Background Intelligent Transfer Service, it does things automatically without you knowing what its doin.

chriswyatt
April 26th, 2010, 11:34 PM
There's one still in development for EXT4 I believe:

http://polishlinux.org/apps/cli/ext4-defragmentation-with-e4defrag/

renkinjutsu
April 26th, 2010, 11:34 PM
Off on a slight tangent of curiosity. Are there any defrag programs available for Linux? It is something I have largely forgotten about doing since I started using Ubuntu exclusively about 4 years ago.

Not really... you can make a tarball of all your files onto another drive, then untar it back into your filesystem.

If you're using btrfs, it comes with an online defrag program.. pretty neat!

chriswyatt
April 26th, 2010, 11:35 PM
Background Intelligent Transfer Service, it does things automatically without you knowing what its doin.

Oh, is that what it's called? I would've called it Annoying Doing Things Behind Your Back Service myself.

MasterNetra
April 26th, 2010, 11:37 PM
Off on a slight tangent of curiosity. Are there any defrag programs available for Linux? It is something I have largely forgotten about doing since I started using Ubuntu exclusively about 4 years ago.

http://polishlinux.org/apps/cli/ext4-defragmentation-with-e4defrag/

Haven't tested myself though if your using ext4 you most likely won't need this. As ext4 is suppose to be extremely resistant to fragmentation.


Oh, is that what it's called? I would've called it Annoying Doing Things Behind Your Back Service myself.

Too long, besides you can disable it, though it might need to be enabled for updates otherwise its fodder.

wpLOL
April 26th, 2010, 11:38 PM
Background Intelligent Transfer Service, it does things automatically without you knowing what its doin.

What's its actually purpose? lol

szymon_g
April 26th, 2010, 11:41 PM
yes, the linux filesystems don't fragment nearly as much as ntfs

i wouldn't say that, let say, ext2 doesn't fragment as much as ntfs.


but both ext3 and ext4 write to disk everytime a file is access to change its atime. A lot of disk writes can wear down your harddrive. There are ways around it though (noatime mount option)

thats why devs invented 'relatime' mount option

MasterNetra
April 26th, 2010, 11:43 PM
What's its actually purpose? lol

There is a explanation on wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Background_Intelligent_Transfer_Service