linux-kernel - Re: document ext3 requirements

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Message-ID: <20090104220634.GD22958@mit.edu>
Date:	Sun, 4 Jan 2009 17:06:34 -0500
From:	Theodore Tso <tytso@....edu>
To:	Rob Landley <rob@...dley.net>
Cc:	Pavel Machek <pavel@...e.cz>,
	kernel list <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	Andrew Morton <akpm@...l.org>, mtk.manpages@...il.com,
	rdunlap@...otime.net, linux-doc@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: document ext3 requirements

On Sun, Jan 04, 2009 at 01:49:49PM -0600, Rob Landley wrote:
> 
> Want to document the granularity issues with flash, while you're at it?
> 
> An inherent problem with using flash as a normal block device is that the 
> flash erase size is bigger than most filesystem sector sizes.  So when you 
> request a write, it may erase and rewrite the next 64k, 128k, or even a couple 
> megabytes on the really _big_ ones.
> 
> If you lose power in the middle of that, ext3 won't notice that data in the 
> "sectors" _after_ the one your were trying to write to got trashed.

True enough, although the newer SSD's will have this problem addressed
(although at least initially, they are **far** more costly than the
el-cheapo 32GB SD cards you can find at the checkout counter at Fry's
alongside battery-powered shavers and trashy ipod speakers).

I will stress again, that most of this doesn't belong in
Documentation/filesystems/ext3.txt, as most of this is *not*
ext3-specific.

						- Ted
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