Re: Maximal Mount Check
On Thu, Mar 04, 1999 at 11:05:46AM -0500, Raymond A. Ingles wrote:
> On Thu, 4 Mar 1999, E.L. Meijer (Eric) wrote:
>
> > > In a message dated 3/4/99 7:40:39 AM Central Standard Time, tpfeifer@snet.net
> > > writes:
> > >
> > > So, defragging your disk isn't a normal Debian maintenance task? Is this true
> > > for all you guys that have been running Debian "forever"?
> >
> > Yes, defragging your disk is _not_ a normal Debian maintenance task. I
> > have been running linux for some 3 three years now (started with
> > Slackware) and never defragged a linux disk. The point is that the
> > ext2 file system is, unlike fat or vfat, mostly `self-defragmenting'.
>
> Yup. The ext2 filesystem is a *lot* more intelligent about such things
> than the FAT filesystem ever could be. For example, typically 5-10% of the
> space on a partition is reserved for root-only access. Since the
> filesystem can generally count on that space being available, it can
> usually prevent fragmentation from arising in the first place.
>
> When you add in Linux's intelligent disk-cacheing (any unused RAM is used
> as a disk cache) if there *is* fragmentation, you only notice it once,
> when the file is first loaded. After that, it's in RAM.
>
> You can often *hear* the difference between filesystems on a noisy drive.
> Whit FAT, when you access a file you get a lot of jumping around the disk.
> With ext2, you generally hear something like "tick-tick-buzz" as it hits
> the inode table a couple of times and then gets the file more-or-less
> continuously.
>
> (Of course, I've got 128MB of RAM now. I can log in, start up X, and
> launch several shells before I need to load anything that isn't already in
> the cache. It's disconcerting the first few times to do all that in
> near-total silence. :-> )
>
> About the only time you get fragmentation is if the filesystem gets
> *really* full. If it happens, the defrag tools are available, but the best
> thing to do is just back up the partition, reformat, and restore from
> backup. This defragmentats at least as effectively, and you should really
> back stuff up *anyway* before you defrag, right?
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Ray Ingles (248) 377-7735 ray.ingles@fanucrobotics.com
>
> "Engineering is like having an 8 a.m. class and a late afternoon lab
> every day for the rest of your life." - Anonymous
>
>
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>
I've got a similar system. Top reports that I have a 50 MB disk cache. I was
showing a friend Linux and he thought my hard drive had broken or that X had
crashed when we had to wait for a program to start. :-)
--
Stephen Pitts
smpitts@midsouth.rr.com
webmaster - http://www.mschess.org
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