what exactly is ext3...how am i to think about it. someone once told me that it was what linux used instead of defrag. but i also i KNOW that there are other blogs with everybody on here saying..."linux doens't need defragging" so i was just wondering how ext3 worked into the equation, what it was, and what i needed to do.



also i have run into a defrag rpm...which is werid too. anyway, if anyone could clear me up on all this i would appreciate. thnx

ext3 is a filesystem like fat32 or ntfs on windows. There are lots of other too such as ext2, reiser and jfs. Because ext3 (like reiser and others) is journaled it is less prone to fragmentation hence there is usually no need to defrag. Some fragmentation may occur as the drive fills up but it is still hardly worth a defrag.

Lookout soon for reiser 4 - it looks really promising and is likely to become the filesystem of choice - just look at the speed tests.

since i'm still new with this whole linux admin stuff i still have to ask...though i figure i probalby know the answer.

since i dont' have to worry about defrag....is there any other type of "disk checks" i'd have to worry about. linux version of:

1) disk maintenance
2) disk doctor
3) scheme checks
etc

i doubt it ...but i did want to ask though. i haven't run across anything yet. (let me also voice my opinion on the greatness of linux and the joy it is working with it rather than trying to administer any kind of network or server with any kind of windows.) thnx for the patience and the help guys.

You can use 'fsck' to check whether a filesystem is "healthy". Normally this check is forced at boot after a predetermined number of mount operations, but can be used on a filesystem on a running box at any time. The filesystem must be unmounted, but you can specify which fs to check by device name or by the mount point listed in /etc/fstab.

Chris