Howto Tweak Ext3

This is now a WIKI page: http://en.opensuse.org/Speeding_up_Ext3 -- andrewd18

Every "journaling" file system (Etx3, XFS, JFS, etc.) uses journals to recover data in case of crash. As you can clearly see, this could slow down your system.
Ext3 (and maybe others) filesystem has 3 journaling modes:

1. Journal Data Writeback
2. Journal Data Ordered
3. Journal Data

By default, Ext3 uses mode 2. What we want to do is to switch it to mode 1 which is more faster and less safer. The drawback is that in case of crash, you only might lose some date you wrote.
OK, let's start working...
Open terminal and perform everything as root

su

Modify /etc/fstab

gedit /etc/fstab

Modify mounted partition by adding data=writeback

/dev/hda2************/********************ext3****** acl,user_xattr,data=writeback********1 1

Modify GRUB menu file (if you are booting from Ext3 partition)

gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

Add data=writeback (bold) flag

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18.2-34-default root=/dev/hda2 data=writeback vga=0x314 resume=/dev/hda1 splash=silent showopts

Change journaling mode manually to writeback

tune2fs -o journal_data_writeback /dev/hda2

Check if your partition is still running

tune2fs -l /dev/hda1

And finally, reboot your system

reboot

Very interesting!

Just curious: does Yast have a module for this perhaps?

In a matter of fact, yes.
It is possible to perform the same actions through "Partitioner" module (in System tab).

1. Open "Partitioner" module
2. Click "Yes" ONLY if you are know what are you doing!
3. Select the partition you want to modify (have to be EXT3 partition) and click "Edit"
4. Now, click on "Fstab Options"
5. In "Data Journaling Mode" list select "Writeback" and click "OK"
6. Click OK to close partition properties and apply if you don't want to change anything else
7. Open "Boot loader" module (in the System tab) if you boot from partition you have modified
8. Select it and click "Edit"
9. In the "Optional kernel command lineparameter" add data=writeback
10. Click OK and Finish

That's it, you are done.
P.S.: You probably would like to verify the partition settings are working before you reboot the system....

Thanks alot! I might try it this week.

How noticeable is the speed improvement normally?

Thanks alot! I might try it this week.

How noticeable is the speed improvement normally?
[/b]

Let's put it this way, YOU WON'T BELIEVE IT!
I mean, I was using XFS for a long time and decided to give EXT3 a chance. It was sooo slow compare to XFS.
This little teak, bring it to reasonable speed hard drive suppose to work...
And the beauty is, the change is EXT3 I proposed is more or less the same to what is used in XFS by default.

Well, I only noticed a *little* speed improvement at first, perhaps that is because I've 1GB of ram which makes things easier for the OS... UNTIL I had to copy over a 170MB file to my Linux partition. It litterally FLEW! Nice, and thanks for the tip

Well, there are some other tweaks that can be made:

1. Access Time - Disable updating file/folder access time (it is more or less useless in anyway)
2. Block Size - Reduce block size (to use disk space more efficiently)

But, since the improvement is not so segnificant and most of PCs have enough disk space, they are irrelevant.

Don't misunderstand me, I'm happy with the tip you gave me

Well, there are some other tweaks that can be made:

1. Access Time - Disable updating file/folder access time (it is more or less useless in anyway)
2. Block Size - Reduce block size (to use disk space more efficiently)

But, since the improvement is not so segnificant and most of PCs have enough disk space, they are irrelevant.
[/b]

how access time changed? tune2fs?

how access time changed? tune2fs?
[/b]

Easy...
First of all, I would like to give some background info and then to write step by step guide how do disable access time flag modification.
What most people don't know, that every time system access file (any file), it updates a field in meta data (ignore this word if you have no idea what I'm talking about) to indicate latest access time. To most of us, this information is not needed, so we can 'safely' turn off this function.

Open terminal and perform everything as root

su

Modify /etc/fstab

gedit /etc/fstab

Add noatime to the flag list of selected partition. In my case it is /dev/hda2

/dev/hda2************/********************ext3****** acl,user_xattr,noatime,data=writeback********1 1

Remount the partition (or just restart the server)

mount -a

That's it, you are done.