which file system to use

[Matthew Kuiken]

Alexander Skwar wrote:
> John L Fjellstad <john-ubuntu at fjellstad.org>:
>
>   
>> Alexander Skwar <listen at alexander.skwar.name> writes:
>>
>>     
>>> The commit is not (only) because of atime. ext3 will commit to
>>> disk, even if *nothing* has been accessed.
>>>
>>> That said, laptop-mode is a good suggestion.
>>>       
>> Looking at the mount options for ext3, there is a commit option
>> (although the default is set to 5 sec, so I'm not sure it's that which is
>> causing the disk access).  If it is the cause of the disk access, I
>> would think changing this option to something else (60 sec or whatever),
>> might help.
>>     
>
> Well - turning on/off the hd every 60 seconds isn't *THAT* much
> better, is it? ;) I'd rather set it to 1 hour, or so. BUT: If
> the system crashes, you'll lose the not yet written data. Ie.
> up to 1 hour would be lost.
>
> Because of this and because of the slowness, I'd not suggest ext3
> but rather JFS.
>
> Alexander Skwar
>   
I have just set up laptop-mode on my ext3 based laptop. After having 
read what laptop mode does, It makes a lot of sense.

IIUC, the laptop-mode setting for commits is out at a configuration file 
parameter that is set for ~5 minutes. When the hard drive does need to 
spin up for some reason, a sync is issued before the drive spins down, 
thus making it possible that you will be able to go 5 minutes between 
write cycles even while you are working on some project.

The laptop mode scripts also allow you to use different syslog settings 
based on whether you are on battery, or AC, or even AC with laptop-mode 
enabled. This allows the logs to be set up not to require a disc write 
when operating off battery, but to log things normally when the AC is 
plugged in.

Since enabling laptop-mode, I notice that my HD light is very infrequent 
in battery mode versus every 5 seconds when I'm plugged in.

-Matt