usb ssd formatting in ext3

[larryfroot]

Hi,

firstly I looked for an all-purpose Linux board to post this on, as it touches on distro-neutral stuff. But there didn't seem to be (please correct me if I am wrong) one, so I defaulted back here...

My question is how recommended is it to format solid state drives (usb pendrive for example) to ext3? The following is a response not unknown to anyone who trawls deep enough on the net (and although its not from pendrivelinux, is pretty typical of many peoples advice there). If I may quote:

"Formatting to ntfs is never recommended for ssd devices(usb pen drives)
these devices have limited write cycles capability but unlimited read cycles capability.

ntfs and ext3 are journaled file systems, they are good for normal hard disks.

Yes, they do provide data security by journaling, but that carries a cost. More read cycles equals less life for your pen drive.

As much as possible stick to these file systems
ext2
fat 16
fat 32

Avoid ntfs/ext3 on pen drives , for a longer life of your ssd device."

Any thoughts? LF

[D-cat]

Solid state drives have a lower write cycle burnout limit than traditional magnetic drives, though the high quality ones are comparable and may even perform better with the load leveling algorithms they employ.

The problem with those cheap pen drives is they don't have this technology, some can start burning out in as little as 100,000 write cycles. Using a journalized filesystem (ext3, reiser, ntfs...) has a negative effect in two regards over a USB connection because they write the journal to disk every so many seconds (default for ext3 is 5); This slows down your connection with overhead and almost guarantees early failure.

FAT and ext2 are not journalized and thus do not exhibit these problems, you get full use of your bandwidth and the pen drive should enjoy a normal MTBF.

[larryfroot]

Thank you D-cat now I knows for certain!