Dowe need disk defragmentation fo linux ?

futurist · 04-07-2003, 09:19 PM

you need it for FAT16 or FAT32 in windows.

how about linux?

miknight · 04-07-2003, 09:40 PM

I'm not very sure on this topic but from what I've heard, you don't need to defrag linux filesystems.

I think it's related to the fact that generally files can be overwritten while they're still in use, and that the ext3, reiserFS filesystems are pretty well done.

Again I really have no idea, that's just a guess - I would like some correcting on this

ranger_nemo · 04-07-2003, 09:42 PM

You don't need it. EXT2 was designed to be smarter than FATs, so it doesn't fragment anywhere near as bad. It's the same reason there isn't a defrag shipped with Windows NT/2000/XP. Not sure about the last, but since it's still NTFS, I doubt it has a defragger.

Besides not needing it, some sites say you can mess up your filesystem trying to run a defragger.

MasterC · 04-07-2003, 09:45 PM

It does frag. However, it's so slight even after many many many files moving around, adding and removing, it's still so slight that it's not worth it. You could, and there are some tools (suggestions rather) out there to do it, however really, it's not worth it. After 10 years you might need to, but I think at that point you might consider an upgrade of some sort

Cool

miknight · 04-07-2003, 09:50 PM

Yes I remember reading somewhere that one of the methods was to simply copy your entire / somewhere, do a rm -Rf / and then copy them back

If it was really that worthwhile, surely some passionate open source programmers would have written many programs to do it.

BruceCadieux · 04-07-2003, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ranger_nemo
You don't need it. EXT2 was designed to be smarter than FATs, so it doesn't fragment anywhere near as bad. It's the same reason there isn't a defrag shipped with Windows NT/2000/XP. Not sure about the last, but since it's still NTFS, I doubt it has a defragger.

Besides not needing it, some sites say you can mess up your filesystem trying to run a defragger.

Ummmm, NT,2000,and XP all have built in defrag utilities.

cuckoopint · 04-07-2003, 10:57 PM

Quote:

If it was really that worthwhile, surely some passionate open source programmers would have written many programs to do it.

freshmeat -> they're there.
; )

Quote:

Yes I remember reading somewhere that one of the methods was to simply copy your entire / somewhere, do a rm -Rf / and then copy them back

yes, this is actually used as a method (believe it or not). This is usually applied only to heavily used corporate disks (eg. constantly updated databses, etc.) With such things as heavily used databases, defrag happens more than usual, so one does indeed have to rewrite the data to the disk (whcih puts everything order)

For all you curious people, fsck will tell you non-contingency of a partition

miknight · 04-08-2003, 04:00 AM

Golly you're right:

http://freshmeat.net/projects/defrag/

Hehe, that should fix my 0.7% non-contiguous partition!