XFS vs BTRFS and the new "Check Filesystem" button in v6b12

[bobekdj]

I know this topic is here and there in the forums, but is there a clear rationale for what file system to use for the main array data drives and a concrete reason WHY (XFS or BTRFS)?  The vast majority of answers were based on personal feelings/assumptions; because "I feel it isnt stable", or "XFS is older so it must be more stable/better", etc.

 

I know FreeNAS and some others have a "scrub" option, I would assume this is likened to the "Check Filesystem" button on each drive page in UnRAID?  Are they fundamentally the same?  This appears to only be an option with BTRFS as well?  Does running the check put your data at risk in the UnRAID setting?

 

I have upgraded my mobo and ram to be ECC compatible (whether or not it is essential is moot since I needed more sata ports, and it was on sale).  This should in theory help with these filesystem checks? or is the function in UnRAID different than freeNAS altogether?

 

Any other insight into this new v6.0 would be greatly appreciated, and to all the developers thanks and keep up the great work!

[BRiT]

I know this topic is here and there in the forums, but is there a clear rationale for what file system to use for the main array data drives and a concrete reason WHY (XFS or BTRFS)?  The vast majority of answers were based on personal feelings/assumptions; because "I feel it isnt stable", or "XFS is older so it must be more stable/better", etc.

 

No. Those statements are not based on feelings. It's based on facts.

 

It's based on looking at the change sets in the Linux Kernel and looking at the sure number of bugs fixed and lines of code changed. From a code maturity standpoint, BTRFS is nowhere near the level of XFS code maturity.

[bobekdj]

No. Those statements are not based on feelings. It's based on facts.

 

It's based on looking at the change sets in the Linux Kernel and looking at the sure number of bugs fixed and lines of code changed. From a code maturity standpoint, BTRFS is nowhere near the level of XFS code maturity.

 

I understand that, it only makes sense that XFS is more mature since it has been around since 1994, while BTRFS is 2009, but not really considered usable/stable until 2013. Since the filesystem is 15+ years older I would hope it has a much more extensive history of changes.

 

The bigger question at hand, does BTRFS offer features (such as snapshots, checksums, scrubbing etc) that XFS does not, and do these features offset the disadvantages of a newer filesystem?

[RobJ]

A more subjective observation, of BTRFS and XFS usage in UnRAID so far, I'm seeing a number of file system issues with those who have formatted drives with BTRFS.  I don't believe I have seen any at all with those using XFS drives.  Plus, there is one report of a significant performance improvement with XFS, needs further confirmation of course.

[gfjardim]

A more subjective observation, of BTRFS and XFS usage in UnRAID so far, I'm seeing a number of file system issues with those who have formatted drives with BTRFS.  I don't believe I have seen any at all with those using XFS drives.  Plus, there is one report of a significant performance improvement with XFS, needs further confirmation of course.

 

I had a major filesystem corruption with BTRFS and Docker in Beta8, I don't know if it was due to a bug in BTRFS itself or a bug in the BTRFS Docker's driver. You don't see this kind of thing in XFS.

[dmacias]

A more subjective observation, of BTRFS and XFS usage in UnRAID so far, I'm seeing a number of file system issues with those who have formatted drives with BTRFS.  I don't believe I have seen any at all with those using XFS drives.  Plus, there is one report of a significant performance improvement with XFS, needs further confirmation of course.

I have had to repartition my cache drive several times due to btrfs corruption.  My vm drive was btrfs too.  Every time I installed a Mythbuntu vm on btrfs I couldn't copy/backup the qcow2 file without an io error. I have finally moved to XFS and can backup that particular vm. And no more corruption.