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Re: [LUG] EXT2 filesystem: defragmenting

 

On Wed, Apr 13, 2005 at 09:41:21AM +0100, Jeremy Pearson wrote:
Coming from a Windows environment I'm used to performing regular
defragmentation on FAT32 and NTFS partitions. Do I need to defragment EXT2
partitions in the same way? And if so, which tools do people use?

I have always heard that you do not need to defragment Linux.

http://www.linux.com/howtos/Partition/formating.shtml
http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue55/florido.html
http://www.linux-mag.com/2002-10/jfs_01.html 
http://wiki.arslinux.com/About_Defragmentation :

"Why? Because the Linux filesystem, ext2fs, is designed to be much less
prone to file fragmentation than the Windows filesystems, FAT32 and
NTFS. As it decides where to put a file, it does small-scale rearranging
wherever it can to prevent file fragmentation. Usually this is
successful enough that you never need to "defrag" an ext2 partition.

However, sometimes, such as when you run an ext2 filesystem for a long
period of time at 85% or more of its maximum storage capacity, this will
begin to break down. There are ext2 defragmenters available, but it's
generally considered good practice to avoid this by simply keeping a
margin of free space on your ext2 partitions."


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