Topic: EXT4 file system for usb node. - page 2. (Read 388 times)

yes, NTFS is not good (nor is it a "new technology" file system any longer)



XFS and btrfs are what you want if you're interested in handling data corruption. But I don't think the laptop suggested in the OP would handle it ideally, as they both use merkle-tree based checksumming to correct errors on disk (ext4 can detect, but not correct, errors on disk). These old budget CPUs probably don't have an in-built native processing unit corresponding to the hashing algorithm that XFS or btrfs use for the error detection/correction. Possibly the standard integer processing APUs will handle it ok, but you will be putting additional load on the CPU no matter what.

The linux kernel in your linux distribution (Suse/Ubuntu) might have XFS and/or btrfs enabled by default, and that would certainly be the most efficient implementation (you would have to check what config options the kernel uses). If not, you can enable them yourself by copying the standard config for your version of linux, changing the option for XFS/btrfs to 'yes', then compiling it (don't forget to install the userspace modules and regenerate the bootloader). You probably could've solved the issues with the keyboard and/or ethernet the same way (i.e. flipping some option in the standard kernel options, then re-compiling it)

I think I ignored the problems of premature disconnection, but that is probably unwise. If I am in a cafe, then there is a;ways the possibility that someone will close the netbook. Hopefully it will go through a closedown procedure, but there is probably no guarantee. of this. What could be more likely is that I am on battery, and thus am liable to run out of power, that gives an instant shutdown. I had a nightmare half day trying to fix the notebook when Windows started a mandatory update when I was running out of power. Not only did I have to waste time trying ( unsuccessfully ) to negate the effects of the so-called update, but I had to sort out the disk corruption as well.

Thasnks for reminding me of this risk. It isn't so serious with Bitcoin Core, as it seems to be fairly well written, and of course there are umpteen backups of the blockchain around the net.  It's still worth taking measures to avoid having to download the whole blockchain again though.

If the device is removed or the computer crashes without unmounting an EXT4/3/2 filesystem first, it gets corrupted and you have to run fsck on it to repair the partition.

NTFS on Linux using FUSE kernel driver also gets bad, unremovable, inodes (file handles) if you're copying files and you unplug it in the middle of the transfer, but it doesn't destroy the drive.

XFS is much more robust and doesn't get corrupted when things like that happen. I've been through, what, dozens of power outages and I never had a single error on my Red Hat's XFS drive.

I'm not sure how EXT4 would handle an accidental disconnect when you unplug the USB cable during writes. Other than that, it's a solid file system.

I've used a netbook (with slightly slower Atom CPU) with a backup blockchain in the past, but it took far too long to catch up when I turned it on, so I gave up.

I can put 8Gb in the notebook, but I really wanted to see if I could use ther netbook as a background machine. I can leave it running for 3 or 4 hours with just core active, and I was hooping I could tweak it to handle that.

The alternative would be a Raspberry Pi powered by a solar battery pack, but I was thinking of trying that as phase 4 or 5 rather than an immediate project.

You'll definitely need to upgrade the RAM on that netbook if you are going to use GNOME. On my system it regularly leaks an extra gigabyte or so if you leave it running for an extended period of time.

GNOME will run, but just barely, with 2GB. You need to set aside memory for bitcoin core. I would've suggested you add a second DDR2/3 2GB memory stick in it, but you mentioned the memory is non-expendable.

IMO, the RAM is a more important issue than the file system. 2GB will struggle running GNOME and bitcoin core at the same time (and Linux swap space is notoriously slow, at least from my experience).

If you don't mind editing config files to tweak the desktop, icewm is lighter than XFCE and LXDE and has a taskbar and menu at the bottom. Only ~256MB RAM usage. And the kernel uses a similar amount which puts the total usage at ~512MB.

I'm in a bit of a mess at the moment, and I've got a lot to sort out. The Kung 'flu isn't helping either - hence the move further towards off grid and battery power. I did tell it not to bother with Libre office, but it decided to install it anyway. Also, I use Thunderbird, but it installed Evolution as the default. I'll probably have a look at that for some of my most used addresses. I've got a load of hard drives, and I've put some of those into cases, so I can move a lot of my data between machines.

I wanted to put a bit of thought into the Blockchain storage, both for speed and longevity/reliability of the drive. I'm not bothered about Windows compatibility. Sometimes I run the netbook tethered to my mobile using a USB connection, but I might experiment with a blutooth connection to access the data between machines - but not this month.

I tried the KDE/plasma option in openSUSE, but I had issues with that, and gave up trying to correct it. Gnome worked straight out of the box, and as this is only a backup experiment, I thought I would run with that. I'll probably continue to do website building and image processing on the Notebook. If I continue to feel comfortable with openSUSE, then I'll double the RAM in the notebook, and replace the HDD with a SSD. The HDD on the notebook has a bad spot, and there may be a problem with the graphics controller. I'll do some testing, and at worst, I'll just buy another notebook if I have to.

I  bought it as a cheap backup about 3 years ago. It was new, but in a clearance because it is in a light blue case, the alternative was pink.
It lasts for about 9 hours on the battery, and came with Windows 10, and i promptly overwrote that with Ubuntu. The latest Ubuntu doesn't recognise the keyboard, hence the move to openSUSE. I'm reviewing all of my computing kit at the moment, and I decided to keep this as a backup - backup means an alternative after running out of battery on my main notebook. Also, I thought the netbook would be handy if I wanted to check a Bitcoin payment via a face to face meeting, and for smaller transactions into a current wallet. I will move to hardware wallets for long term storage, and I need to make a decision on my main ( more powerful ) notebook. I will be installing a comms centre in the van, and I will base this on one of the new single board computers with 12 volt or USB power..

The blockchain and wallet I want to use is over 2 years out of date, and I hoped to copy it onto the SSD and sync it as a background job whilst I am in a cafe. I'm really taken with this digital nomad life, and if I could power a pc from my wood burner, then I would love that.

There is really no "best" for this. It's going to be a "less bad" option. EXT4 will work fine.

With that being said:
There will probably be a lot of people who will disagree with me on this but the netbooks lack of RAM is going to be a big big issue.
Every time you are offline and it has to catch up that and with the initial sync 2GB RAM and the low power of the CPU Will really kill you.

Are you using it because of weight and you want to carry less or some other reason?
You might have mentioned it in some other post.

-Dave

I'm slowly putting together a system to run a Bitcoin node on an old HP Netbook. The machine spec is

Intel Celeron N3060 @ 1.60 GHz with 2Gb of Ram - the ram is not expandable, and the chip can't be changed.
The OS is the latest openSUSE Leap with Gnome. WiFi and Bluetooth are available, but no Ethernet
USB 2 and 3 and SD cards are available for extra storage. The internal drive only has about 28Gb available after software installation.
Proposed external drive - 2Tb Samsung EVO 860 in a Sabrient case to allow connection via USB 3

I propose to repartition the external drive and change the file system. At the moment I am considering a single EXT4 partition. The current OS uses BTRFS as its default, but I suspect that the older EXT4 system will place fewer demands on the netbook, and hopefully I can use it for surfing whilst sync'ing the blockchain. Net connection will be via public WiFi, and the system will often have to rely on the Netbook battery for power.

Whilst many may not consider this as an optimum setup, it is useful as part of my experiments as a digital nomad.
My question is - Do you think that a single EXT4 partition is the best choice under the circumstances?