Civileme wrote:
>
> "Brash, Matthew" wrote:
>
> > Supposedly defragging is unnessecary in Linux. The Ext2 file system doesn't
> > get fragmented or something. Can anyone confirm/trash this idea?
> >
> >
>
> Confirm.
>
> The ext2 filesystem is, in the sense of the FAT-type filesystems fragmented a
> small amount--and it remains at that amount and does its "defragging" largely
> on the fly.
>
> The FAT system defrag makes files contiguous (occupying successive sectors on
> disk) and stacks them end-to-end from the beginning of the data area on the
> disk. When a file is removed, its allocated blocks are returned to the pool of
> unallocated blocks and used whenever.
>
> FAT32 is slightly more efficient in access and LESS efficient on space because
> it does not handle a 5K file, for example, with any grace at all. But the
> efficiency in access, which is slight to begin with, becomes terrible as soon
> as some files change size or some are deleted and others added. Thus we have
> the defrag. Note that Microsoft does not offer a defragmenter for NTFS... It
> is supposedly a more efficient system but who knows since they don't pass out
> the specifications....
>
Well, I don't have the specs either, but I can tell you that we defrag our NT
boxes with some regularity and they're a mess. Either M$ lied (suprise?) or the
someone really screwed up the NTFS design. Note that NT >installs< on a DOS
file system which is converted to NTFS in the final stages of the install. This
means
that things are fragmented from the start. If you look around, you'll find a
number
of commercial defragmenters for NT.
> So ext2fs doesn't really need a defragmenter. It is not bound to jamming
> everything as near as possible to the beginning of the disk to get effciency
> and most files have their data blocks stacked end-to-end though there will be a
> sort of checkerboard effect on what is used versus what is free across the disk
> or disk partition.
>
> Windows is based on a close link between the physical storage on the disk and
> the logical storage there. ext2fs is at a higher level of abstraction,
> deliberately fragmenting the free space on the disk so files are generally
> unfragmented.. Recent improvements have made ext2fs even better. rpmfind.net
> reports success with the journaling ext3 fs, and you can see the Reiserfs is
> now offered in linux-mandrake. None of those filesystems really need
> defragmenters.
>
> Civileme
Best
Cokey
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