Deleting a directory tree is taking a looooong time

opensuse 42.1
linux 4.1.36-41-default x86_64

For boring reasons a time-machine-like program was removed from the list of available applications on a NAS. Thus were two years of backup negated; there was no warning about the impending removal. Grr.

An alternative program is available that does the same thing: version-ed backups. Got that one going.

The disk drive, a 2TB Seagate unit, USB connected, is formatted with ext4. The old program left behind a 1.2TB directory with the old backups. I started a deletion of the directory with “rm -fr <directory_to_remove>”. It is deleting at an incredibly slow pace. It seems to be recovering disk space at 2 - 3GB / hour. (Yes, hour.) A i/o monitor indicates that data is moving back and forth at about 1MB / sec.

Why would deleting a large directory be so time consuming?
Would it be better to simply re-format the disk with btrfs or xfs?

Probably being held up by the usb linkage. I would run gparted and re-format with ext4 or xfs. That should be fast. **

If I were you, I would save the directory you got working to another drive and just reformat, which would save time too :slight_smile: ext4/xfs/btrfs is OK. I hear xfs is best for large files (+GB)?? Reformatting would take seconds vs waiting… or you can start an rm-rf before bed and leave it be.

your sure it hasnt fallen back to usb 1.1 or 2 due to missing drivers or something?

Sure you are not shredding files on deletion?