Defragmenting Under Linux..?

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi.

It may look like a stupid question, but... is there a need to defragment a drive/volume under Linux, and if so, how to do that? I'm running Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy.

My data drive is still in NTFS and particularly one partition is very heavily used for downloads, i.e. it is constantly filled, emptied (burning stuff to DVD's) and filled again. I have not noticed a decline in performance in the 14 months i am using Linux now but it being NTFS me thinks it needs to be defragmented some times..? Or does Linux handle even NTFS in a better way than Windows? FASTER for sure

And how about Ubuntu's own partitions, which are ext3..? Is there a need to defragment them, if so, how..?

Many thanks for advice

Kind regards......

Thanh

[RKASA]

Linux formats don't need it.  My ntfs drives and partitions which get also get used by windows programs I just defrag in windows.

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi

Hmm but i don't have Windows anymore...... I used Vista before (and XP before that) so when switching to Linux i just swapped the HDD with the OS on it and kept the second HDD "as it was", NTFS that is. Ubuntu reads and writes to that NTFS drive much faster than Vista ever did so i never bothered to change the file system. Also i was thinking if Ubuntu ever fails on me i just swap the Vista HDD back in and am ready to roll - however Ubuntu never failed me and by now said Vista HDD is a Vista HDD no more..... it became data HDD in my second computer that also runs Ubuntu My Vista DVD (which was a genuine Ultimate Edition! One of the first in Thailand i guess, for which i paid a REALLY outrageous price back then, the week it was first released) has been sold as well, so one can say i am well and truly Windows-free here (except for that genuine (!) Win95 (!!) that i have in a virtual machine to play with at times).

Hehe Ubuntu is a nice way to have Win95 read and write NTFS, too..... as i have one of the partitions shared Win95 uses it like it's own, poor Windows doesn't know that something much more powerful actually runs the show.

Kind regards.....

Thanh

[jackdanielsesq]

In my 'bad ol' M$ days' I had massive FS corruption and fragmentation problems with NTFS, as boot drive.

I currently also run XP, to play with, but use about 12 Linux distros in all. Some serious, some for play.

I format my HDD several times, using different utilities, then chop them up into bit size chunks of say 7G, 2G swap,

and sqy 120G for data. I only use Fat32 for both XP SP2 + Data. It is bullet proof. I format each partition as I install O/S

I use RFSv3 for all my bizniz O/S's and play with newer ones for fun - none are case hardened yet, methinks.

I dont defrag even data drives, as there is no need. RF takes care of its own and handles cable-pulls brilliantly,

without the 'fsck' boot from hel_l samba. Because my boot partitions are always different, it does not grind it to death.

Which is a common cause for M$ & HDD failure. It is still a physical platter. Having a central data depository is a boon.

Being able to switch to any O/S without even trying to repair anything is also great - fix it later, when ya got time.

Running defrag & chkdsk & AV 24/7 is a big pain & overhead, and does not improve read times. Get a decent FS.

As you are happy & consistent, the only consideration is to remove NTFS at some stage.

Linux has to use another driver, ergo overhead to read it also.

BR>Jack