Re: [gentoo-user] BIG reiserfs problem

["Joshua Schmidlkofer" <joshland@gmail.com>]

Dude - I use xfs w/o a UPS for desktops and laptops.  I use it on
servers with RAID and with UPS protection.  I also keep good backups
for the servers.   I have been using XFS since _just_ _after_ it came
to Linux.  I have used XFS on several hundred systems (which I have
been responsible for).   I have, to date, lost two filesystems.

 a. 2000 - I lost a filesystem when I was running a CVS kernel.
*hhahaha* yeah, it was ugly, during the 2.4 kernel of pain days.

 b. 2006 - hardware slowly corrupted an FS.  Some files wouldn't read,
and we had wierd problems, (but good backups).  After firmware updates
problems got stranger, and xfs_repair finished the job.   I blame the
hardware.

I have read the list, and seen the problems.  I don' t know what I do
that makes XFS succeed, but It really does work well.  The first
filesystem I ever tried with JFS failed.   I had weird errors, and
strange messages.   I tried the repair tools, but they crashed.  Then,
I posted to the LKML.  No one replied, or was interested.  I left JFS,
and returned to XFS.

I have run into a few strange bugs with XFS, but in every case I found
the mailing list and IRC very responsive and I was able to return the
servers to operation.   Twice those have been caused by either 2.4 or
XFS.   Once or twice it was several compound power outages.

What really kills XFS is _NOT_ power outages - it is out-of-order
commits.  When the drives re-order the commits, it really can f-up the
drive.  The data portion of the disk is updated and the journal isn't.
 Then, if you have a crash, you are in some pretty sh*t. That's why
write barriers are so important.

Use what you want, but don't misunderstand XFS - as many people here
clearly do.  It's a good FS, but it is sensitive to hardware problems.
 By problems I mean: dying disks (which will kill anyone), faulty
commit order for data vs. journal (which probably affects all of the
journaling FSs as well), silent corruption, faulty RAM, and last but
not least DMA problems.

If you have a drive that commits out of order, and you are prone to
power problems: USE EXT2 - it is , bar none, the SAFEST filesystem in
that case.   I do use it on a couple systems with those exact
problems. (And a couple of low-memory systems, journalling sucks up
resources).  I have not lost an ext2 fs yet in either of those cases.
Sure, the systems occasionally experience some meessed up files, but
never the whole FS, and replacing a library or binary is /not/ /that/
/tough/.

Good Luck,
  Joshua
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