linux ext2 or ext3...

[Bob McClure Jr]

On Sat, Apr 17, 2004 at 12:34:43PM -0700, pamntom wrote:
> Ha! Found a FAQ page for the explanation:
> http://batleth.sapienti-sat.org/projects/FAQs/ext3-faq.html
> I will go with linux ext3. My question is still out there for anyone's
> help though. What's the best partition considering my goal?
>  
>    These are my options using Partition magic (v8) as I am about to
> begin with an installation of RH9: FAT - NTFS - Linux ext2 - Linux ext3
> - Linux swap.
> What are the differences? Don't need swap space (yet),

Yes, you do.

> so I am down to
> four options. I am going to assume that I want linux, but which
> partition choice?
> I have a new Dell workstation (Precision 450) running EXP, and I plan to
> have a dual boot WXP/RH9 using Grub as my loader, and samba to talk to
> my other NT systems. Also: I have a low-end ATI video card, as a default
> for now.
>  
> Any suggestions? (Haven't purchased Partition Magic yet, just demo, so
> please let me know if there's something else, something better.Grub,
> too.)
>  
> Tom Allen
> (no worries, no rush. - this is just weekend fun!... At least, this is
> what I keep telling myself . )

FAT (FAT32, actually) is what you want to use for Windoze.  Linux can
read and write to that just fine.  It can (with a module you must add
yourself) read, but not reliably write to an NTFS filesystem.  See

http://www.rhil.net/

for more info.

For Linux, ext2 is the "second extended" filesystem.  ext3 is the
journaling version of ext2.  Linux (as with all unices) does not
immediately write data to the disk.  It keeps many buffers and a cache
open so that disk I/O performance is high.  That means that if someone
kicks the power cord out of the wall, there is a whole bunch of stuff
left hanging out in the breeze that the system must sort out and make
some sense of when it is booted again.  That process is called fsck -
filesystem check.

The ext3 filesystem keeps a journal of all pending writes, and
_always_ writes it, so it has a "trail of bread crumbs" to follow when
it is booted again after the aforementioned scenario.

That said, start with ext2 for the installation because the install
kernel is known to be fragile in handling ext3 filesystems.  The
installed kernel will work just fine, so you can convert to an ext3
filesystem after the installation.  For more information, see the
answer to the third question at:

http://www.rhil.net/docs/faq.html#install_dies

and

http://www.rhil.net/docs/ext2-to-ext3.html

Cheers,
-- 
Bob McClure, Jr.             Bobcat Open Systems, Inc.
robertmcclure at earthlink.net  http://www.bobcatos.com
Forbidden fruit creates many jams.