I use BTRFS but I don't understand it and I hate it
Posted by bebitou@reddit | linux | View on Reddit | 18 comments
I can never remember how it works, how much size is taken on the disk, which commands to use, which program to use to help me with the commands
I have all the time the message "no more disk space" so I delete timeshift snapshots and still have the message, and i lost data cause of this in the end
I think i'm going back to Ext4
Valuable-Cod-314@reddit
I stopped using BTRFS last year after a slew of problems. I went with XFS and noticed right off the bat how slow BTRFS was. XFS is light years ahead of it in speed as is EXT4. I have had zero issues with XFS in more than a year of being on it. Can't blame you for making the switch.
BinkReddit@reddit
Same. Use EXT4 and bup to backup my data to a different system with deltas. Yes, I lose the advanced functionality of btrfs COW, but I have no problems, and it's fast.
koverstreet@reddit
try bcachefs :)
Marelle01@reddit
so, don't use it for your root partition. I don't even set it on /home. I mount zfs datasets like ~/Downloads, videos , audios and other subdirectories. some /var/lib like mysql or incus. Do what you want/need.
Marelle01@reddit
Go with ZFS, it's simpler, more mature, beautiful and sunny.
Hellrazor_muc@reddit
Unfortunately it's not as easy to install. Root on zfs is almost impossible for new Linux users
joelkurian@reddit
Just use XFS. It has been rock solid for years for me.
Tried BTRFS this past year for just data storage with compression enabled on brand new drive. Faced data corruption. Never again.
Valuable-Cod-314@reddit
You made the fanboys mad.
maokaby@reddit
On XFS you would not face data corruption because it doesn't make checksums, right? So possible bit rot remains unnoticed.
prueba_hola@reddit
BTRFS doesn't have any problems, you are making something CLEARLY wrong but is absolutely not normal
Metasystem85@reddit
Btrfs balance ... Inode sometimes failed. You have to cronjob and controle regulary your snapshots.
mweisshaupt@reddit
I don't know why this was downvoted. In my tests some years ago I had the same problem with balances running all the time and the filesystem required way more maintenance than what I was willing to spend on it. I have to admit, the laptop I have used at this time only had a 120GB SSD. Maybe this was just to small but I had just around 20GB of data on that system so it should have been plenty to work with.
Nowadays I have moved to ZFS and have not looked back. So I don't know if these problems are still valid but a few years back I also had them.
FryBoyter@reddit
When using btrfs, subvolumes are usually the best solution. This allows you to separate a hard drive into several areas such as / and /home, but these areas do not have a fixed size, so that only the total storage space represents the limit.
Regardless of which file system you use, you should always make regular backups. Because when your hard drive crashes, it won't matter which file system you use. And that can happen pretty quickly.
If you don't need the various features offered by btrfs (subvolumes, snapshots, compression, etc.), then ext4 is actually the more sensible file system in my opinion.
yebyen@reddit
If you're losing data because the disk filled up, a backup isn't going to help you. The data lost would need to be written to the disk at least once to avoid the loss.
ParaboloidalCrest@reddit
Nothing wrong with the simplicity of Ext4.
archontwo@reddit
Try reading the docs before typing random commands and complaining.
Latlanc@reddit
Just use tried and true ext4 instead of slow, prone to data corruption, overcomplicated btrfs.
BigHeadTonyT@reddit
You could use Snapper/Timedhift and set them to make less snapshots OR make the OS drive bigger. That said, it is also OS-deependent. I have Garuda with Btrfs, has not been a problem for 2 years since I got the computer. 500 gig SSD and around 300 gigs is used for other tan OS things. Another instance, 50 gig VPS (cloud), OpenSUSE Leap 15.6. Install was 4 gigs. Somehow it managed to take sooo many snapshots, it filled up 46 gigs in 2 days. Default settings. Like WTF? Had to start over, can't do shit with a VPS that is full.