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Can't wait for Google to replace ext4 with F2FS by default in Android. It offers significant speed improvement (~50 percent faster, or even 2x faster in some ca

by devx 13y ago

Can't wait for Google to replace ext4 with F2FS by default in Android. It offers significant speed improvement (~50 percent faster, or even 2x faster in some cases I think). There are a lot of performance improvements built into the new Linux kernels, too, along with 64-bit ARMv8 support, so those will be very welcome, too, if they arrive in Android 4.4.

jordanthoms 13y ago
It's pretty crazy for a Samsung filesystem to be actually good, considering their history with RFS...
- ihsw 13y ago
  Well take a look what F2FS stands for: Flash-Friendly File System. It's designed around living on disks that aren't platters of spinning rust. Few companies can call themselves an authority on NAND flash memory and Samsung is definitely at the top of that list. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F2FS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F2FS
  - jrockway 13y ago
    I think people on this site consider Samsung to be "that company that invented that gimicky feature that pauses videos when you look away" and not "the company that makes pretty much every flash memory chip or LCD in existence".
    - yareally 13y ago
      Also nearly AMOLED in existence on a consumer device.
  - josteink 13y ago
    The point was that Samsung, despite what you mentioned, put out phones like the Samsung Galaxy S1 with their own home-made filesystems RFS. The performance of RFS once the filesystem became somewhat populated was horrible and was the one single bottleneck for every single operation on the phone. It made otherwise top-end hardware (for the time) unbearably slow, bordering on useless. Think 10 seconds lag to go back from an email to the email-listing. Those were real delays. Real problems. Caused by RFS. I have personally experienced people thank me for giving them "a completely new phone" (quote end) when I rooted the phones and converted all RFS-partitions to EXT4. All those problems went away and you finally got the phone you thought you bought in the first place. Given this, touching any filesystem by Samsung is something I will give serious second thoughts. To give Samsung credit, they ditched RFS entirely for their second line of Galaxy S phones. The Galaxy S2 used standard Linux filesystems and RFS has yet to resurface anywhere near civilized folks.
Recoil42 13y ago
This is the first I've heard of F2FS. Are there any good introduction-type writeups for it anywhere? How far is it from production?
- amboar 13y ago
  Here is a technical overview: https://lwn.net/Articles/518988/ https://lwn.net/Articles/518988/
sciwiz 13y ago
Moto X uses F2FS. "The Moto X’s pseudo-stock Android 4.2.2 uses ext4 for all partitions with the exception of user data storage, which uses F2FS (Flash Friendly File System)" http://www.anandtech.com/show/7235/moto-x-review/9 http://www.anandtech.com/show/7235/moto-x-review/9
coldtea 13y ago
>Can't wait for Google to replace ext4 with F2FS by default in Android. It offers significant speed improvement (~50 percent faster, or even 2x faster in some cases I think). And why can't you wait? What will that buy you? Do you have a read/write heavy workflow with Android?

by devx 13y ago

jordanthoms 13y ago

It's pretty crazy for a Samsung filesystem to be actually good, considering their history with RFS...

ihsw 13y ago
Well take a look what F2FS stands for: Flash-Friendly File System. It's designed around living on disks that aren't platters of spinning rust. Few companies can call themselves an authority on NAND flash memory and Samsung is definitely at the top of that list. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F2FS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F2FS
- jrockway 13y ago
  I think people on this site consider Samsung to be "that company that invented that gimicky feature that pauses videos when you look away" and not "the company that makes pretty much every flash memory chip or LCD in existence".
  - yareally 13y ago
    Also nearly AMOLED in existence on a consumer device.
- josteink 13y ago
  The point was that Samsung, despite what you mentioned, put out phones like the Samsung Galaxy S1 with their own home-made filesystems RFS. The performance of RFS once the filesystem became somewhat populated was horrible and was the one single bottleneck for every single operation on the phone. It made otherwise top-end hardware (for the time) unbearably slow, bordering on useless. Think 10 seconds lag to go back from an email to the email-listing. Those were real delays. Real problems. Caused by RFS. I have personally experienced people thank me for giving them "a completely new phone" (quote end) when I rooted the phones and converted all RFS-partitions to EXT4. All those problems went away and you finally got the phone you thought you bought in the first place. Given this, touching any filesystem by Samsung is something I will give serious second thoughts. To give Samsung credit, they ditched RFS entirely for their second line of Galaxy S phones. The Galaxy S2 used standard Linux filesystems and RFS has yet to resurface anywhere near civilized folks.

Recoil42 13y ago

This is the first I've heard of F2FS. Are there any good introduction-type writeups for it anywhere? How far is it from production?

amboar 13y ago
Here is a technical overview: https://lwn.net/Articles/518988/ https://lwn.net/Articles/518988/

sciwiz 13y ago

Moto X uses F2FS. "The Moto X’s pseudo-stock Android 4.2.2 uses ext4 for all partitions with the exception of user data storage, which uses F2FS (Flash Friendly File System)" http://www.anandtech.com/show/7235/moto-x-review/9 http://www.anandtech.com/show/7235/moto-x-review/9

coldtea 13y ago

>Can't wait for Google to replace ext4 with F2FS by default in Android. It offers significant speed improvement (~50 percent faster, or even 2x faster in some cases I think). And why can't you wait? What will that buy you? Do you have a read/write heavy workflow with Android?