Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]

Groups > linux.debian.user > #226195

Re: Recommendation for filesystem for USB external drive for backups

Show all headers | View raw

On Fri 14 Aug 2020 at 08:25:20 (+0300), Andrei POPESCU wrote:
> On Mi, 12 aug 20, 20:14:03, rhkramer@gmail.com wrote:
> > I'm getting closer to setting up a consistent backup plan, backing up to an 
> > external USB drive.  I'm wondering about a reasonable filesystem to use, I 
> > think I want to stay in the ext2/3/4 family, and I'm wondering if there is any 
> > good reason to use anything beyond ext2?
>  
> In my opinion using ext2 in 2020 is mostly pointless, beyond the rare 
> situation where some software doesn't support ext4 (e.g. some odd/old 
> bootloader, other OSs, etc.).
> 
> Because it is getting significantly less use support for it is also more 
> likely to bit rot.
> 
> As far as I know ext3 is mostly ext2 with journalling added.
> 
> In comparison ext4 was developed from scratch with journaling and 
> support for other newer techniques, like better allocation of space to 
> prevent fragmentation and improve performance.

If you create your backup partitions on a newer distribution,
just check that wheezy can mount it before you start filling
it up. There are one of two options that wheezy kernels can't handle
in ext4, though I don't know whether any of them get enabled by
default. man ext4 for details.
Ditto for any encryption scheme you might use.

> > (Some day I'll try ZFS or BTRFS for my "system" filesystems, but don't see any 
> > point (and don't want to learn) either of them at this point -- I don't see 
> > much need for a backup filesystem.)
> 
> As has been stated already, both btrfs and ZFS have built-in bitrot 
> protections that are very useful for backups and archives. To achieve 
> the same level of protection on ext4 you need additional tools.

I'm dubious whether I shall ever start using these filesystems.
I create multiple backups on ext4 filesystems on LUKS, and keep
MD5 digests of their contents. Would that qualify as your
"additional tools"?

Cheers,
David.

Back to linux.debian.user | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Next in thread | Find similar | Unroll thread

Thread

Recommendation for filesystem for USB external drive for backups rhkramer@gmail.com - 2020-08-13 02:20 +0200
  Re: Recommendation for filesystem for USB external drive for backups Keith Bainbridge <keithrbaugroups@gmail.com> - 2020-08-13 02:40 +0200
  Re: Recommendation for filesystem for USB external drive for backups Ben Caradoc-Davies <ben@transient.nz> - 2020-08-13 03:00 +0200
    Re: Recommendation for filesystem for USB external drive for backups <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2020-08-13 11:00 +0200
  Re: Recommendation for filesystem for USB external drive for backups Mark Allums <maa@allums.com> - 2020-08-13 03:20 +0200
  Re: Recommendation for filesystem for USB external drive for  backups Charles Curley <charlescurley@charlescurley.com> - 2020-08-13 05:20 +0200
    Re: Recommendation for filesystem for USB external drive for backups <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2020-08-13 11:00 +0200
  Re: Recommendation for filesystem for USB external drive for backups David Christensen <dpchrist@holgerdanske.com> - 2020-08-13 10:40 +0200
    Re: Recommendation for filesystem for USB external drive for backups Tom Dial <tddial@comcast.net> - 2020-08-13 20:10 +0200
      Re: Recommendation for filesystem for USB external drive for backups rhkramer@gmail.com - 2020-08-13 22:00 +0200
        Re: Recommendation for filesystem for USB external drive for backups David Christensen <dpchrist@holgerdanske.com> - 2020-08-13 22:20 +0200
          Re: Recommendation for filesystem for USB external drive for backups Greg Wooledge <wooledg@eeg.ccf.org> - 2020-08-13 22:40 +0200
            Re: Recommendation for filesystem for USB external drive for backups Dan Ritter <dsr@randomstring.org> - 2020-08-13 23:00 +0200
              Re: Recommendation for filesystem for USB external drive for backups ghe2001 <ghe2001@protonmail.com> - 2020-08-13 23:40 +0200
                Re: Recommendation for filesystem for USB external drive for backups Jonathan Dowland <jon+debian-user@dow.land> - 2020-08-14 11:40 +0200
                Re: Recommendation for filesystem for USB external drive for backups <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2020-08-14 12:00 +0200
          Re: Recommendation for filesystem for USB external drive for backups rhkramer@gmail.com - 2020-08-14 03:30 +0200
            Re: Recommendation for filesystem for USB external drive for backups David Christensen <dpchrist@holgerdanske.com> - 2020-08-14 07:10 +0200
        Re: Recommendation for filesystem for USB external drive for backups Tom Dial <tddial@comcast.net> - 2020-08-14 04:50 +0200
    Re: Recommendation for filesystem for USB external drive for backups David Christensen <dpchrist@holgerdanske.com> - 2020-08-20 00:10 +0200
      Re: Recommendation for filesystem for USB external drive for backups Ben Caradoc-Davies <ben@transient.nz> - 2020-08-20 01:40 +0200
        Re: Recommendation for filesystem for USB external drive for backups Michael Stone <mstone@debian.org> - 2020-08-20 04:20 +0200
  Re: Recommendation for filesystem for USB external drive for  backups local10 <local10@tutanota.com> - 2020-08-13 21:50 +0200
  Re: Recommendation for filesystem for USB external drive for backups Andrei POPESCU <andreimpopescu@gmail.com> - 2020-08-14 07:30 +0200
    Re: Recommendation for filesystem for USB external drive for backups David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2020-08-14 17:40 +0200
      Re: Recommendation for filesystem for USB external drive for backups Andrei POPESCU <andreimpopescu@gmail.com> - 2020-08-15 13:00 +0200

csiph-web