XFS In Dapper [previously posted to ubuntu-users]

[Michael Hipp]

David Kempe wrote:
> Nick Webb wrote:
>> I've got a couple projects coming up that will have a file systems >= 
>> 2TB and I'm thinking of using XFS for it.  Main feature of XFS I need is 
>> the lack of fsck at startup (fsck for ext2/3 will take many hours with a 
>> 2TB partition).  The file system will also likely have many large files, 
>> so XFS seems to be a good choice for this as well.
>>
> 
> Importantly, you can have data-loss on XFS if you lose power suddenly, 
> perhaps more so than ext3. When files get corrupted on XFS, I have 
> noticed they go to zero size, whereas in messy situations with ext3 I 
> have noticed you are more likely to loose metadata than data. I still 
> would stick with XFS anyday though, even just because the sheer increase 
> in format time.

I've experienced this data loss on XFS more than once due to one kind of 
abrupt shutdown or another. XFS seems fragile. Almost like it's not a 
journaled filesystem at all.

XFS has several advantages over ext3. But I abandoned it because of this 
fragility. Ext3 seems far more idiot proof and I prefer things that 
"just work" even if they're not glamorous.

Just my experiences.

Michael