Ubuntu

ext4 instability

Asked by jari

Hi, two days ago I converted my Jaunty to ext4 file system, and since then the system hangs every so often, like every 12 hours or so. It won't respond to anything but the magic sysrq key combinations, not always even them. This happens in normal desktop use. Have others seen similar instability with ext4 file system? Guess the cause could be something else also but can't think of any other kernel level changes that I would've made recently...

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Best actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

You do not get most of the advantages of ext4 if you convert. Only a proper format gains ext4 advantages really.

I have seen similar lockups myself and quickly reformatted and reinstalled in ext3. ext4 will be the default in karmic but is still under heavy development at the moment.

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jari (jaript) said : 		#2

I know it's in development, just thought it'd be more stable than this given that it was put into a stable kernel. Oh well. Thanks, guess it's on to doing a backup, format and reinstall... sigh.

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jari (jaript) said : 		#3

Thanks actionparsnip, that solved my question.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#4

You should have a backup if your data is important. No backup == data is disposable.

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jari (jaript) said : 		#5

True true. I do have important data backed up, but not things like settings etc. Btw, have you tried if updating the kernel to 2.6.29 helps any?

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marcobra (Marco Braida) (marcobra) said : 		#6

Statistical info: i use ext4 on 4 (Ubuntu 9.04) pc without any problem.

Please note:
i'm using the kernel 2.6.28-12-generic ( you need to enable the "jaunty-proposed" repository under the System→Administration→Software sources ) and upgrade the system to get it.

Hth

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Kevin O'Riordan (k-oriordan) said : 		#7

Same problems here with system locking up when using ext4. Happens if you try to delete a folder of files or update a lot of files using subversion etc. I've heard 2.6.30 is supposed to fix the problem, though for the moment I'm reformatting and going with ext3.