POLL: Which file system in 2022. ext4, btrfs, xfs, zfs, f2fs (choose 1)

That’s all well and good, but there are also a lot of users who are not professionals like you… me for example …

2 Likes

Mostly I use ext4 for the same reason what @Kresimir mentioned.

But I’m also testing btrfs because of compression. So far so good.

1 Like

I hear you Kresimir. Years ago I broke everything and fixed it just to learn how it works. These days I just need something to work. My first *nix system was a FreeBSD server in 1994, although I ran Arch since 2016 on a livedvd just to see what made it tick. That’s how I raised the :enos_flag:
I guess that makes me a “user” and not a developer, so snapshots make sense to get me working again in a few minutes.

I used to have Timeshift until recently when I switched to Dalto’s Btrfs Assistant with grub-btrfs. I am pretty happy with that now, although I will look into zfs for another system.

I tried t change it, but it only allows me to build a new poll.
Are you able to you change it it to multiple entries?
I thought I checked muliple entries in the poll setup as I know we have users with different systems.

Still, even though it’s an unscientfic poll with bias against multiple file system users, it looks like a trend is emerging that may confirm :enos: is headed in a good direction.

MS Windows had right idea with restore points. It opened Windows up to a whole new world of users, who could overwrite a virus or a bad update without taking the computer to a technician. So from that perspective, snaphotting on the grub menu can attract a new generation to :enos:

1 Like

Yeah, that’s me! :rofl:

Only the idea, because in most cases it takes too long to “restore” and it works… only a few times. I’ve wasted too much time trying to restore Windows on lot of computers and I’ve discovered reinstallation is much faster and the only way to get rid of viruses and trash.

2 Likes

The idea was good, but the snapshot system we have with Btrfs is far superior, and it’s really, really fast, and what’s more, it works!

I use timeshift with rsync, does it well.

1 Like

If I ever really needed it, Windows Restore tended not to save me.

2 Likes

JaJaJaaa …

Too bad half the time when things go south they don’t work!

3 Likes

I am by no stretch of the imagination, a professional. I am on the learning path like a lot of others. I am new to Arch and would consider myself a beginner Arch user, but an intermediate Linux user.

1 Like

The poll has a rather predictable outcome so far. 2/3 use the default filesystem, 1/3 use btrfs and I use zfs. :rofl:

4 Likes

Ext4 for storagel btrfs for system.

5 Likes

I’d be interested in your thoughts as to why you use ZFS over BTRFS (the short story version).

In most ways, zfs is superior to btrfs

  • It has many more features
  • It is better performing when properly tuned
  • It has a far more logical layout
  • It is more stable/reliable

There are some downsides too

  • It uses more RAM than btrfs
  • It requires planning and understanding of how zfs works
  • It is an out-of-tree module so it needs some special care to avoid breaking your system

zfs is definitely not for everyone.

8 Likes

Thanks for sharing that.

1 Like

Also my experience.
Restoring Windows, please wait two hours later PC reboots and there is a notification telling Restore failed :man_facepalming:

3 Likes

I use xfs. I’ve used most of the others at some point in the past, but other than the snapshots of btrfs nothing stands out to me, activities are for the most part the same and I don’t see a major difference in performance. From what I have read xfs is supposed to perform better than the rest. As I do not need snapshots (which seems to be kind-of-achievable on xfs as well using the reflink feature) I’ve settled with it and it hasn’t failed me yet.

I tried ZFS in VM few weeks ago. But I noticed that ZFS rollback is inflexible.
You can not rollback an old snapshot if it is older than other new existing snapshots. But you would delete all new snapshots until the selected old snapshot for rollback or there is a trick but it is awkward.

ZFS rollback is hard (Not full tree capability), but it is good stable for RAID levels.
BTRFS is not stable in RAID level 5 or 6, but its rollback is flexible like full tree capability.

1 Like