xfs not that stable on amd64 (lost a partition)

astronic

Hello Gentooists,

from the official installation handbook I got the impression that xfs is considered to be reasonably stable on amd64, whilst the tech notes on amd64.gento.org point out that there only "have been positive reports" about it. After I didn't find anything contrary I gave it a try using the actual gentoo-dev-sources-2.6.3-r2.

However, ~36h after installing gentoo on my new system I lost the xfs root partion. It began with write errors in /var/tmp during the OpenOffice merge, 2-3 minutes later all I got was "I/O error" for any kind of read or write operation. The system hang at boot trying to repair the filesystem and I wasn't able to recover anything in my attempt to use knoppix to repair the partition.
My HD is innocent for sure and my system is running perfectly stable otherwise. I'm now relatively happy with ext3 (never thought I would see that slow fellow again). For anyone considering xfs as file system for a new installation: Yes, there have been positive reports and whatever stroke me may not strike you - but giving it a thought may eventually save you a lot of trouble. And if you are looking for a negative report as I was, well, you've found one.

Regards,
Stefan.

jsc1959 · Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2004 12:10 am Post subject:

Well sorry to hear about your loss...heh....but it is good to see that we now have proof positive not to use XFS for now anyways. The same goes for rieserfs also unfortunetly. I had the pleasure of reinstalling after trying that file system. Anyway, hope you like your amd64 gentoo...its still fiarly new...although it has come along way. Thanks for posting.

jsc
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Camoes · Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2004 11:18 am Post subject:

Yes, exactly the same happend to me with XFS

Although my system wasn't stable at this time, as my motherboard had some probs with my RAM. Now using ext3 and everything is fine
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jhuebel · Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2004 4:41 pm Post subject:

It would be helpful if you submitted a bug report to bugs.gentoo.org with the errors you mentioned. Perhaps the kernel developers will be able to fix the problem in future kernel versions...
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ozric100 · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 23 Apr 2002 Posts: 136

Did you emerge OO with -sandbox set ?
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astronic · Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2004 6:16 pm Post subject:

jdong · n00b Joined: 01 Mar 2004 Posts: 41

I (overall) do NOT recommend XFS for desktops. It's waay too agressive with caching stuff. When I started using Linux, I used XFS partitions because it always appeared to be the 'fastest'. However, an improper shutdown borked my partition quite a few times (this was with Knoppix, so a re-install was a cinch). Then, i tried ReiserFs. Once again, reiser doesn't stand up for a long time, either... The trees always get messed...

Ext3 rules.. err.. 4ever.

astronic · Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2004 6:41 pm Post subject:

astronic · Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2004 6:46 pm Post subject:

Camoes · Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2004 8:17 pm Post subject:

the trees don't help you if the roots are borked

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crazycat · Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2004 9:17 pm Post subject:

I wouldn't say that for riserfs for me, i'm using one partition for boot + root for 2 months already without any problems. I also had improper shutdowns with it but no problems either.

dweigert · Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2004 5:38 pm Post subject:

I wonder if there is a difference running SCSI or IDE in this case? I use XFS and REiserFS (v3) on scsi boxes and haven't had a problem even through power failures. The only time I've had an issue with XFS was a PC which had a hardware problem. Heck, my laptop runs XFS.

Dan
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morwin · n00b Joined: 27 Jan 2003 Posts: 15

I have been suing XFs exclusively since it appeared in Gentoo (around 1.0). I ahve never had a problem with it failing and losing data. I have never had it corrupt data and I ahve never had performance issues.

I am a developer and deal with large (~4GB) terrain databases and process or create them regularly. I have never had any issues with any data loss. I would have had a problem by now if it was unreliable I think. If anything, it works better now on AMD64 machines (which I ahve been suing since Jan 04).

lightvhawk0 · Guru Joined: 07 Nov 2003 Posts: 388

I used it on the developent-sources and I haven't noticed anything wierd. I'm currently using xfs support in the mm sources and things are getting funky, but that could be my fault too lol :oops:

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DigitalDan · Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2004 7:08 am Post subject:

I am going to update my system a little for stability by adding software raid, thorugh linux. I will be using the new 2.6 kernel and was wondering if xfs would be the right choice for me. It seems like it is a lot better but then after reading this with problems of losing data I am not sure if I should go with xfs or if I should just stick with ext3. I have an x86 system, not an athlon 64.

What are your ideas?

Thanks
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