Would you tell me what would it happened if the system is running ext2 or ext3 ? Which one is easy to fix excepted restore :)

[Alex White]

Wong Kwok-hon wrote:
> Since the system default is running ext3 the journal file system in
> FC2 and now are still using in FC3. Is it a safety file system ?
> 
> Becuase I saw the books didn't stated the different and what would it
> happen if the system crash in ext2 or ext3 ?
> 
> Ringo

Ext3 has journaling. What this means for you is that the system journals 
  disc activity so as if somethin' horrible happens; let's say a power 
failure in the middle of a disc write or something like that, then the 
journal will ease recovery. The journal allows the system to replay the 
last actions taken up to the point of failure and then continue on as if 
  nothing ever happened. Ext3 is the default for Fedora.

Ext2 is the exact same file system basically, other than it lacks 
journaling. What this means for you is if the machine dies in the middle 
of a disc write; as mentioned above, the machine will have to fsck the 
disc. This can be a very long and arduous process in comparison to the 
replay of a journal in ext3. On the other hand, ext2 is much faster than 
ext3 simply because it lacks the journaling system. If you want to know 
which one to choose, use ext3.

If you're worried about speed, I don't think it's going to be something 
you notice too too much. Ext3 can be tweaked to provide better speed, if 
mounted with certain options. What those are, is best found by googling 
or searching the archives. I've seen those mentioned here before.

A good source to find this information out is by using google too. If 
you want a real break down of it, google can provide you with an indepth 
discussion on the matter from developers and benchmarks.

HTH

Alex White