Subject: Re: hd tuning
To: Micha? Pasternak <michal@pasternak.w.lub.pl>
From: David Maxwell <david@vex.net>
List: port-i386
Date: 06/01/2003 20:55:22
On Mon, Jun 02, 2003 at 02:38:07AM +0200, Micha? Pasternak wrote:
> > > Linux: Slow IDE, unsafe FS. Each must be tweaked by the sysadmin.
> > > NetBSD: Fast IDE, safe FS. No tweaking needed.
> > >
> > exactly
> 
> Hmm, unsafe FS? Even those written by IBM or SGI?

Since you deleted my paragraph which answered your question, I'll
re-paste it here.

> Linux(*) defaults to EXT2FS, async(metadata)/async(data). This means
> that fsck cannot be certain of what operation was being performed when
> the system went down, and often has to stop and ask for the user to RUN
> FSCK MANUALLY, so the user can try to guess what was in progress when
> the system went down. Async metadata writes also mean that the structure
> of the filesystem can be highly unstable at times, leading to the loss
> of entire directories... including '/'.     

I'm not aware of which Linux distributions are shipping IBM or SGI
derivative filesystems by default - hence, "Each must be tweaked by the
sysadmin".

							David