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Re: Buster Installation - Partition phase - Inode option to choose - SSD or Mechanical HD



On Sun 25 Aug 2019 at 06:20:34 (-0500), Richard Owlett wrote:
> On 08/24/2019 06:30 PM, bw wrote:
> > In-Reply-To: <[🔎] 6467de81e00f9aafac5c25a0c60b1e73@contacte.xyz>

> > > When it's time to partition/format the drive one can choose the ??usage??
> > > of the partition which affect the Inodes.
> > > 
> > > There is :
> > > 
> > > -Typical usage??? (which is ???standard??? by default)
> > > - "News??? (lots of inodes),
> > > - ???largefile??? (fewer inodes),
> > > - ???largefile4??? (even fewer inodes)
> > > 
> > > What would be the ??best?? to choose for an SSD in an usual desktop
> > > environment ? What would be the ??best?? to choose for an mechanical HD in
> > > an usual desktop environment ?
> > > 
> > > Files system is EXT4.

> > 
> > I have a link/url.  I would think default 'Typical Usage' is best unless
> > you need to choose another option.  It's an interesting question, thanks!
> > 
> > https://duckduckgo.com/html/?q=debian+installer+inode+largefile4
> > 
> 
> Thanks for the link -- prompted thinking.
> One of thoughts was I probably know less about disk details than I
> thought. [I date from 8" floppies and 14" HD platters with a few MB ;]
> 
> How do I search for answer to my inadequately phrased question below.
> 1. I assume that sector size is a _TERM_ reserved for something fixed
>    when the disk is manufactured.
> 2. What is the proper search term to use for something whose dimensions
>    would be "megabytes/inode"? {I'll use "blob" for now }
> 3. The references I skimmed were focused pretty much on "disk full"
>    meaning either running out of "inodes" or "physical bytes on disk".

It sounds as if you're thinking of FAT filesystems and their use
of "clusters", the multiple-sector units of File Allocation,
whose size relates to the minimum size of the smallest file and
the maximum number of files in the volume. So in a FAT fs, you can
run out of

. overall space,
. unallocated clusters for any new file,
. unfragmented space for a large new file,
. spare entries in the top-level directory.

> the question:
> How find discussion of
>   blob size v file fragmentation [cf head seeks in spinning rust]
>   blob size v wear problems on SSD [unclear how that's handled now]
>   blob size v parameters such as bs when using dd [lousy example]
> What else should I be asking <smile>
> [see what happens when septuagenarian caused to think before coffee ;]
> TIA

For nostalgia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table
then
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_of_the_FAT_file_system

For users like us, maybe start at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_file_system
continuing through
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ext2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ext3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ext4

But I wouldn't want to distract you from connecting your machines,
or petitboot, or VMs.

Cheers,
David.


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