Asking for advice/insight: Which filesystem for an encrypted root partition on a single disk?
Which file system should I use for an encrypted root partition on Linux for a single disk? I typically use LUKS + ext4. I've also used encrypted BTRFS and ZFS (with ZFSBootMenu) but never worked with them to any extent beyond getting them setup. I see distros such as Fedora are now defaulting to using BTRFS. For a Linux install on systems with 8GB-16GB RAM and a single disk (no RAID), I'm seeking some advice: Should I stick with ext4? Or use BTRFS? Or ZFS? -- Website: https://www.dwarmstrong.org
On Sun, 16 Feb 2025 at 11:41, Daniel Wayne Armstrong via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
Which file system should I use for an encrypted root partition on Linux for a single disk?
I typically use LUKS + ext4.
I've also used encrypted BTRFS and ZFS (with ZFSBootMenu) but never worked with them to any extent beyond getting them setup. I see distros such as Fedora are now defaulting to using BTRFS.
For a Linux install on systems with 8GB-16GB RAM and a single disk (no RAID), I'm seeking some advice: Should I stick with ext4? Or use BTRFS? Or ZFS?
I continue to use LUKS + ext4. Old, reliable, and stable, I'm very fond of that in a filesystem. My NAS server uses ZFS, but some annoyances with ZFS have kept me from using it on single-disk Debian systems. In November of 2024, I started a discussion on this list about Btrfs. My summation toward the end looked like this: "Btrfs is good but there are a couple significant blocks: lack of native encryption, lack of good RAID 5/6, lack of complete recovery tools (still being developed)." That's my take on it, and doesn't align with everyone in the discussion. It sounds like you have experience with Btrfs: if you're happy with that, why not continue? You should weigh the lack of recovery tools, RAID, and (native) encryption - but also the availability of several of the very promising tools that ext* lacks. Do you need RAID? Do you need the new tools? Familiarity keeps me stuck - and I find the only things I really count on from ZFS's arsenal of improvements over ext4 are built-in mirroring and checksumming-on-copy, so mostly "new tools" aren't a big deal to me ... -- Giles https://www.gilesorr.com/ gilesorr@gmail.com
On Sun, Feb 16, 2025, at 13:09, Giles Orr wrote:
On Sun, 16 Feb 2025 at 11:41, Daniel Wayne Armstrong via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
Which file system should I use for an encrypted root partition on Linux for a single disk?
I typically use LUKS + ext4.
I've also used encrypted BTRFS and ZFS (with ZFSBootMenu) but never worked with them to any extent beyond getting them setup. I see distros such as Fedora are now defaulting to using BTRFS.
For a Linux install on systems with 8GB-16GB RAM and a single disk (no RAID), I'm seeking some advice: Should I stick with ext4? Or use BTRFS? Or ZFS?
I continue to use LUKS + ext4. Old, reliable, and stable, I'm very fond of that in a filesystem. My NAS server uses ZFS, but some annoyances with ZFS have kept me from using it on single-disk Debian systems.
In November of 2024, I started a discussion on this list about Btrfs. My summation toward the end looked like this: "Btrfs is good but there are a couple significant blocks: lack of native encryption, lack of good RAID 5/6, lack of complete recovery tools (still being developed)." That's my take on it, and doesn't align with everyone in the discussion. It sounds like you have experience with Btrfs: if you're happy with that, why not continue? You should weigh the lack of recovery tools, RAID, and (native) encryption - but also the availability of several of the very promising tools that ext* lacks. Do you need RAID? Do you need the new tools? Familiarity keeps me stuck - and I find the only things I really count on from ZFS's arsenal of improvements over ext4 are built-in mirroring and checksumming-on-copy, so mostly "new tools" aren't a big deal to me
Thanks Giles. I'll search for that BTRFS thread on the list.
participants (2)
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Daniel Wayne Armstrong -
Giles Orr