Re: ext4 stable enough to entrust it with data?
On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 08:53:43PM +0200, Sven Joachim wrote:
> On 2009-06-30 20:40 +0200, lee wrote:
>
> > Anyway, getting the new disks brings up the question which file system
> > to use. It seems you can convert ext3 to ext4 later, so I'm thinking
> > of using ext3 for now and maybe converting later. On the first glance,
> > there doesn't seem to be a disadvantage with doing it this way.
>
> There is, existing files will not take advantage of the new features of
> ext4 like extents. Therefore, I would just go straight to ext4 for new
> filesystems.
Well, I could live with that. But I just went with ext4 for the new
disks and made a new FS on /tmp to "convert" it to ext4. At some time
I might convert /var to ext4.
> One caveat, though: grub(-legacy) cannot read ext4, you have to switch
> to grub2 (aka grub-pc) or use a separate ext2/3 filesystem for /boot.
Well, I haven't been able to install on SATA disks. The installer CD
didn't have the required kernel modules --- extremely annoying when
trying to install from scratch on SATA or when bootint into the rescue
system and not being able to access your disks. So I ended up having
to use an IDE disk to install, and the IDE disk is still in use
now. The root partition is ext3 and contains the /boot partition ---
I'm always trying to keep that on one partition "the old fashioned
way" because it makes things easier, like not having to mess with an
initramfs. Hm, but then, I think I tried a seperate /boot partition
once, but it didn't work ...
Anyway, I got the new disks today, installed them, created a
partitionable RAID-1 from them and created a partition over the full
size. The I wanted to reboot to make sure the updated partitioning
info is valid (I've seen it not working before and messing things up
badly, so I always reboot after changing partitions).
But I couldn't reboot. The BIOS always got stuck at the point where it
would report the disks, and it turned out that I had to turn off AHCI
and "native mode" in the BIOS to be able to boot with the new disks
connected. But booting with that disabled made it impossible for the
kernel to find any SATA devices. I managed to make a kernel with the
modules needed to run without AHCI, and it works that way now. I got
all the data copied to the new disks :)
Maybe I need a BIOS update; I'll have to check if there is one. The
new disks had been detected without problems before I created the
RAID-1 and partitioned it.
What am I supposed to use for the IDE disk? There is:
Device Drivers--->ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL support--->
generic ATA/ATAPI disk support
JMicron JMB36x support
That I have compiled into the kernel since it needs something to be
able to boot. Then there is:
Device Drivers--->Serial ATA (prod) and Parallel ATA (experimental) drivers--->
ATA ACPI Support
AHCI SATA support
... which I have been using before, compiled in. I changed that
to using:
AHCI SATA support
Intel ESB, ICH, PIIX3, PIIX4 PATA/SATA support
ACPI firmware driver for PATA
JMicron PATA support
Those are all compiled as modules, and they get loaded automatically,
except for "AHCI SATA support".
The point is that the JMicron support is doubled, once as module, once
compiled in. lspci says:
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801IB (ICH9) 2 port SATA IDE Controller (rev 02)
03:00.0 IDE interface: JMicron Technology Corp. JMB368 IDE controller
So what do I need/should I use, the " JMicron JMB36x support" or the
"JMicron PATA support" --- or both? The board is a Gigabyte
GA-P35-DS3L (or S3L).
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