[mythtv] Re: FileSystem to use for Myth (was Re:Channel change sp eed)

[Axel Thimm]

Hi,

On Mon, Sep 15, 2003 at 10:38:10PM +0200, Ben Bucksch wrote:
> I also use XFS for almost all of my filesystems (ext3 for OS 
> partitions). I haven't noticed speed penalities in comparison to ext2, 
> it's maybe even faster.

Current XFS (1.3.0) is even up to 20-30% faster than 1.2 (at least on
RedHat where previously O_DIRECT was turned off).

Hint: atrpms' kernels have been upgraded to use XFS 1.3.0 and the xfs
tools (e.g. mkfs.xfs or xfsdump) are in the atrpms' repos, so it is
quite easy to test/benchmark it. There are even Debian folks using the
atrpms kernels quite surprisingly.

> I also use it for the recording partition for MythTV. I have no 
> problems. Channel changes are relatively fast (<1s, I'd guess). My TV 
> card (in case it's relevant) is a Terratec Cinergy 400 (an SAA7134 with 
> PAL tuner) internal tuning.
> 
> Deleting is fast. rm bla.nuv returns within a fraction of a second (in 
> case that's any measure).

I think here is exactly XFS's drawback: It can take ages to delete
lots of small files, or in general small file handling is better left
to reiserfs.

In short:
- Large files like mythtv uses are better of with XFS
- Small files like squid uses are better of with reiserfs

Both fs have stability problems compared to rock-and-solid ext2/3, but
I think XFS has been very stable lately.

Quite OT: XFS has also quite sane ACL handling, which make XFS a very
good candidate for Samba servers.

Personally I concur with Ben: For a system partition like /boot, / or
/usr, I'd be conservative and use ext3, but for /var/lib/mythtv I'd go
for XFS.

For those who like to dwell into the journaling fs matter further:
Read this article and follow the benchmark links:

http://www.netapp.com/tech_library/3274.html
-- 
Axel.Thimm at physik.fu-berlin.de
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://mythtv.org/pipermail/mythtv-dev/attachments/20030916/2b245966/attachment.bin