I've read in many places that file systems on Linux do not suffer the same fragmentation problems of Windows systems. No one has provided a clear explanation as to why fragmentation is not an issue for file systems such as ext2/3, reiserfs, xfs, etc. Just curious.
Fong Vang wrote:> I've read in many places that file systems on Linux do not suffer the > same fragmentation problems of Windows systems. No one has provided a > clear explanation as to why fragmentation is not an issue for file > systems such as ext2/3, reiserfs, xfs, etc. Just curious. > _______________________________________________ > CentOS mailing list > CentOS at centos.org > http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centosFrom what I've read it seems to be because Linux file system code finds the next available contiguous block that the file will fit completely into on the disk. This is instead of just starting writing it to the first available free block wether its big enough to contiguously fit the file or not, like on FAT file systems. Also I think that newer versions of NTFS are much more resistant to fragmentation than FAT filesystems - to the point where you have much less need to run defrag programs on them. -- Tim Edwards
On Fri, 2005-08-26 at 00:12 -0700, Fong Vang wrote:> I've read in many places that file systems on Linux do not suffer the > same fragmentation problems of Windows systems. No one has provided a > clear explanation as to why fragmentation is not an issue for file > systems such as ext2/3, reiserfs, xfs, etc. Just curious.Instead of rehashing this for the 23rd time on a list, I'll create a blog entry later this evening from my past posts. I'll send you the link when I put it up. Short version: - Strict separation of binaries, data and temporary files - Reservation of disk space (filesystems never completely fill) - Allocation approaches of inode design filesystems -- Bryan J. Smith b.j.smith at ieee.org http://thebs413.blogspot.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The best things in life are NOT free - which is why life is easiest if you save all the bills until you can share them with the perfect woman