Use F2FS as file-system for the root partition

[ekerazha]

Hi,

I have an Acer Aspire One with a low-end SSD drive which is extremely slow. I'd want to try the new F2FS file-system which is specifically designed for this kind of flash memory drives. The 3.8 kernel should support the F2FS file-system, although I don't know if the Ubuntu kernel has been compiled with F2FS support... however...

I downloaded GParted Live 0.16.0 Beta 2 which includes some F2FS support, I created an EXT2 boot partition (I don't think F2FS is bootable yet) and a F2FS root partition.

Then I tried to install Ubuntu 13.04 Beta 2 but it looks like the Desktop installer doesn't support F2FS. So I tried the Alternative installer (text based) of Lubuntu 13.04 Beta 2 (Lubuntu is the only Ubuntu flavor which still releases the Alternative image) but even the text-mode installer supports F2FS.

Any suggestions? I'd want to install Ubuntu on a F2FS root partition.

Thanks.

--

Update
Sustain the ticket to add F2FS support to the Ubuntu installer: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...y/+bug/1261175

[dino99]

F2FS has been merged into 3.8 kernels (http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...tem&px=MTI1OTU)

but using that new 0.16 gparted (still beta, and 0.15 was so buggy) is at your own risk; so be sure to backup your data/settings elsewhere first (on an other device)

http://askubuntu.com/questions/25832...2fs-filesystem

Also watch the f2fs-tools package details.

[ekerazha]

Yes but there are no Ubuntu installers with F2FS support. Also, it looks like there isn't an utility to resize the F2FS file-system (I can't see it in f2fs-tools), so I can't even try to install Ubuntu on an EXT2 partition, shrink it, create a F2FS partition, copy the EXT2 partition content into the F2FS partition, delete the EXT2 partition and extend the F2FS one... because F2FS lacks the resizing tool. Maybe I could try to use a third temporary partition and then use it as /home.

[dino99]

browse down and watch the latest posts (maybe btrfs is a better choice)
http://lwn.net/Articles/518988/

[ekerazha]

Btrfs is probably better on high-end SSD, while F2FS is specifically designed with the flash memory of mobile devices (smartphones, tablets etc.) in mind, which is similar to the low-end drive I have in my netbook.

[ekerazha]

Some brainstorming (I didn't test it)...

[Edit: removed... useless...]

[dino99]

posting oops

[dino99]

Hopes you succeed; good luck

... and post your feedback please. (might help some others)

[Cheesemill]

I should think that using debootstrap to install would probably work.

[ekerazha]

So... I tried to install Ubuntu on a EXT4 partition (with a different EXT4 /boot partition), then I booted from the Live CD and I copied the root partition content to an external USB drive (EXT4 formatted), then I formatted the original partition as F2FS and I copied everything back from the USB drive to the F2FS partition. I adjusted the fstab file and I also ran update-grub (chrooting the installed system). It didn't work. I also tried update-initramfs. Maybe I missed something.