Anders Johansson [mailto:andjoh@rydsbo.net] corrected: [...]

...

fairly large mail systems) ext3fs was not as good as reiserfs, and they should do this:

"In /etc/fstab go to the /var [entry] and change it to something like /dev/cciss/c0d1p1 /var reiserfs data=writeback,noatime 1 2

Reboot the system "

I think the implication was that you can change the fs just by changing an fstab entry. Is that true?

Of course not. You need to reformat the partition to change the file system.

Whew! Good. I already spend too much time finding out that I've been doing things the hard way. [...]

...

I thought that sort of thing would have been laid down at formatting time and just formalized in fstab, and would therefore be a bit more difficult to overhaul than just an edit of one file and a reboot.

Yep. fstab just tells mount what to try when mounting it, it doesn't actually change anything on the disk.

Pretty much as I'd thought I understood it. Good.

...

Also, while we're on the subject, is Reiserfs the hands-down better, faster, more reliable-in-both-ordinary-and-extreme-situations, file-system? A Linux Journal article from a couple of years ago seemed to think so, and supplied several feature-comparison tables to prove it. [...] reiserfs is usually held to be better for file systems with lots of small files, but suffers when you introduce larger files. It's also better at reading than at creating new files, as far as I know.

Makes sense, so at least the fellow in that old thread would have been correct in recommending it for use in mail systems (lots of small files). I probably missed something in the exchange about fs-type, as the threads were split in several directions, so the overall statement might not have been as egregious as it appeared to somebody dropping in two years late. Can't offer any thought on why he had "data=writeback" in there, though.

Personally I like xfs as a system with overall good performance, and it's just brilliant for very large files

So that's what you choose for personal systems?

But the general rule is that no one knows what your particular system will do, so for a performance critical server, it pays to examine which file system is best for your particular work load

For personal use then, a person would be unlikely to ever come up against the limitations of any of the popular filesystems? Well, maybe if your hobby is video editing... mine isn't. Thanks. Clarity helps. Kevin The information contained in this electronic mail transmission may be privileged and confidential, and therefore, protected from disclosure. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by replying to this message and deleting it from your computer without copying or disclosing it.