OpenSUSE 10.2 will no longer user ReiserFS as its default filesystem. "We've been using ReiserFS as our default installation file system for the last 6-7 years now, and it's served us well in that time. Unfortunately, there are a number of problems with it, some purely technical, some more related to maintenance. I'll outline a few of the larger issues and offer my solution as a conclusion."
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Member since:2005-07-06
...but ReiserFS kept destroying my data while ext3 never failed once. So I'd say ext3 is way beyond relatively safe.
You hear various stories like this from people about all filesystems - ext3 destroyed my data, Reiser destroyed my data, XFS destroyed my data....... They're utterly meaningless.
They're generally made by people who get paranoid about what happens if they have a power failure, and they pull the power cord on their machine to test it and whinge when it doesn't come back up. Such comments don't apply.
Member since:2005-11-14
True. On my Powerbook, I've run both Linux and OS X, and the latter will regularly destroy its root FS unrecoverably. With Linux, which had to run ext2 for its root FS, and usually had ReiserFS for the others, I've only had one unrecoverable error -- a minor one on ext2 that made e2fsck segfault, while the FS was still readable. A simple copy, reinitialize and restore fixed the problem.
So my experience says HFS+ w/journaling < ext2 < ReiserFS 3, and the same for their respective fscks. Most other people would say e2fsck is one of the more robust programs out there, and reiserfsck doesn't have the same reputation. Also, saying that HFS+ with journaling is as stable as nitroglyserin is clearly contradicted by all those Mac users who seem perfectly happy with it.
My guess is that hardware weirdness will have different consequences for different FSs, and ReiserFS isn't necessarily the worst. My own experience with it has always been positive.
Member since:2005-10-06
Yabut.....We live in a snow-prone mountain area and in winter have frequent power-outs. Have never suffered data loss on ext3, Reiser or XFS due to these (or anything else), which are all on our server in different partitions for different types of data - so I don't see that pulling the cord would do it either.
Not really arguing - just a bit confused by your comment.
Member since:2006-07-13
We also have had quite a few bad issues with reiserfs and we decided now to use ext3 instead. Since then, we haven't seen that kind of numbers of failures.
To us, it was not 'meaningless' - really reiserfs was not useable in our cases.
Similar reports were discussed some time ago with someone who worked for a large european aviation carrier that run linux for some large scale databases. He asked me what I thought of it -- told our damaged data and he said "pheww, we're not the only ones who experience this".
Member since:
2005-11-11
This is quite strange, perhaps I'm an isolated case, but ReiserFS kept destroying my data while ext3 never failed once. So I'd say ext3 is way beyond relatively safe.