jeffus_il
January 22nd, 2008, 08:09 AM
Got to thinking about the psychology side, when I saw a recent thread where someone was determined a defrag a Linux file system. Despite many attempts to dissuade, there are still those determined to defrag, why? , the history of windows, the need to maintain, like regular car services, a need to satisfy oneself that one is a good computer owner, just like a good dog owner? I responded to the thread a little spicily, maybe too much so, I really don't want to hurt potential Ubuntians, This is what I wrote:
If someone feels an intense drive to defrag, maybe originating somewhere in the early childhood years, resulting from a negligent father who couldn't bring himself to defrag, simply do this, you need no extra software (compulsive installers are always looking for another piece of software to install, probably a result of strong marketing):
create a new temporary partition big enough to hold the content of the drive to be defragged.
copy the whole filesystem to the new partition using a recursive copy which keeps permissions on files. Code:
cp -rpv /dir/source /dir/temp
r for recursive, p for preserve and v to keep your eyes busy while its alll happening.
delete the original filesystem or create a new one on the same partition.
copy the filesystem back using the same command reversed.
the filesystem is now 100% defragged.Don't take this personally, some of my best friends have been known to defrag, I have also done it a few times, that's how I know how to do it, but I wouldn't admit it in public.
There's a mistake in the cp command, it needs a "*" somewhere.I also see a need to install more software, no matter if it's necessary or not. Of course this causes lots of personal "suffering" and also is a weight on the forum support people, and also causes a lot of complaints about the product, which is really stable. Playing at the fringes with Alpha type software is not for the weak at heart. I wonder how much bandwidth on the forum has to do with compiz, and eye candy issues, really unnecessary fancy partitioning issues, multiple booting just to try out another distro and so on.
Aren't most of us just overgrown kids looking for another toy to play with?
If someone feels an intense drive to defrag, maybe originating somewhere in the early childhood years, resulting from a negligent father who couldn't bring himself to defrag, simply do this, you need no extra software (compulsive installers are always looking for another piece of software to install, probably a result of strong marketing):
create a new temporary partition big enough to hold the content of the drive to be defragged.
copy the whole filesystem to the new partition using a recursive copy which keeps permissions on files. Code:
cp -rpv /dir/source /dir/temp
r for recursive, p for preserve and v to keep your eyes busy while its alll happening.
delete the original filesystem or create a new one on the same partition.
copy the filesystem back using the same command reversed.
the filesystem is now 100% defragged.Don't take this personally, some of my best friends have been known to defrag, I have also done it a few times, that's how I know how to do it, but I wouldn't admit it in public.
There's a mistake in the cp command, it needs a "*" somewhere.I also see a need to install more software, no matter if it's necessary or not. Of course this causes lots of personal "suffering" and also is a weight on the forum support people, and also causes a lot of complaints about the product, which is really stable. Playing at the fringes with Alpha type software is not for the weak at heart. I wonder how much bandwidth on the forum has to do with compiz, and eye candy issues, really unnecessary fancy partitioning issues, multiple booting just to try out another distro and so on.
Aren't most of us just overgrown kids looking for another toy to play with?