Database Users

EXT4 File System?

Just wondering if anyone would know: my friend has a Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant through Bell. He told me he applied some sort of EXT4 file system to it which has resulted in a massive performance gain.
Anyone know anything about what this might be?
I'm wondering if something like this may be possible with the X10, especially with 2.1 on the way (as that's the version of Android he's running).
-edit-
I got some more info on what my friend was talking about:
I converted the native RFS file system (a stupid, stupid move on Samsung's part, it's a slow file system) to a more common ext4 file system, which is blazingly fast compared to RFS. There's many lag fixes out there, some use EXT2, some EXT3, some EXT4 and some NILFS2, I use the voodoo lag fix.
http://project-voodoo.org/
It's reverable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, does anyone know what file system SE is using on the X10?

saltorio said:
Just wondering if anyone would know: my friend has a Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant through Bell. He told me he applied some sort of EXT4 file system to it which has resulted in a massive performance gain.
Anyone know anything about what this might be?
I'm wondering if something like this may be possible with the X10, especially with 2.1 on the way (as that's the version of Android he's running).
-edit-
I got some more info on what my friend was talking about:
So, does anyone know what file system SE is using on the X10?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YAFFS#YAFFS2
Don't think you can convert it to anything else..

i would better use btrfs(With compression enabled) then ext4
i have btrfs on my SSD and it is much faster then ext4

Now there are a lot of improved file system with good performance out there but I guess the FS doesn't make a great difference on a smartphone... The most important thing you need is journaling so you don't lose your data if the device crashes
Yup the lagfix on the galaxy S really improves the score in Quadrant benchmark.. but, talking about concrete phone use, does it really increase overall performance that much?

tuxo87 said:
Yup the lagfix on the galaxy S really improves the score in Quadrant benchmark.. but, talking about concrete phone use, does it really increase overall performance that much?
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Click to collapse
No idea. I have limited experience with his Galaxy S. It seems quite fast and responsive (moreso than my X10), but then that could easily be attributed to the OS difference.

tuxo87 said:
Now there are a lot of improved file system with good performance out there but I guess the FS doesn't make a great difference on a smartphone... The most important thing you need is journaling so you don't lose your data if the device crashes
Yup the lagfix on the galaxy S really improves the score in Quadrant benchmark.. but, talking about concrete phone use, does it really increase overall performance that much?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Abso-****ing-lutely. Whatever Samsung did to the Galaxy S line with respect to the RFS filesystem was used was horrible. EXT4 instantly makes the phone one of theeee fastest (if not fastest) devices out...and I'm not talking benchmarks scores, but real world use.

You don't need to change the file system on the X10. This is only useful on the Galaxy S because of the horrid filesystem Samsung chose to use. RFS is their inbred bastard child so unfortunately it looks like they're sticking with it.
The X10 doesn't use RFS so don't worry about it.

WickedStyx said:
You don't need to change the file system on the X10. This is only useful on the Galaxy S because of the horrid filesystem Samsung chose to use. RFS is their inbred bastard child so unfortunately it looks like they're sticking with it.
The X10 doesn't use RFS so don't worry about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fair enough. Thanks for all the info.

[Q]database read/write speed

Hi all,
I was doing some test with a friend of mine that have a galaxy s with ext4 lag fix.
We have noticed that in quadrant there is a huge different in time during the passages "writing database" and "reading database".
So is the desire hd filesisten not well optimized (not like the original galaxy s one ) and is there a way to speed up read/write operations?
Thank u all
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

by default the galaxy S out of the box uses RFS which when doing IO to DB can be very very slow....because it does a lot of journalling.
I believe ext4 does not do journalling?? correct me if i am wrong...
if your friend uses the OCLF then ...believe me over a period of 1 week..or after your friend has put more than 10 apps...it will start to degrade...
RFS in the GS corrupts the FS over time...
I have had my DHD for like 2 weeks and installed over 50 apps..
quadrant scores are always...close to 2000..
using Froyo on the GS without any lag fix u get approx 1000 quadrant score..
with lag fix you get close to 2000..but then again is temporary..
if your friend had applied the voodoo lag fix..then i thing that uses a different journalling policy.and on Froyo GS gets approx around the 1500...
so DHD is indeed optimize IMO

I came from the galaxy s. Wich i loved, after much work and tweaking. Straight out of the box it was useless. But back to topic. Of course it would be possible but i dont really see the need. Itryed all the diffrent lagfixes for SGS, OCLF wich uses EXT2, Voodoo EXT4, and Ztupys kernel with ddiferent options and on Android 2.1 they aall really boosted the Quadrant scores was getting 2200+. But on Android 2.2 it didnt have same effect quadrant about 1500-1700 still good fix. But when i run Quadrant on DHD, in I/O section it stops a little while r/w data but it did that with lagfix on SGS also. Only lagfix that made it run thru with out pauseing was OCLF wich uses EXT2, and Ext2 gets corrupted or something after a while and performance slows down.
I think we have a good stable device and i dont see the need.

nandihno said:
I believe ext4 does not do journalling?? correct me if i am wrong...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am afraid not, ext4 is basically ext3 with journalling c.f Wikipedia

thank u all for replies. Mine was just curiosity more than need because DHD in every day use is really fast and responsive (not like my old iphone 3g....)
I think i has applied the OCLF so it will be degraded in some times, and he said also that he reboot the phone once a day..
Sorry to mod if i posted in the wrong section
muffy

Is that true or fake ? nexus s is 6x faster than galaxy s

Please read that carefuly
I read the next comment in gsmarena under nexus s section :
[nexus s is using ext3 on their system files which make 3x faster on ext4, 6x faster than RFS system (samsung galaxy s have RFS file system if you don't know it)and 3x times less power consumption than both. with that it is much better than a phone using dual core for speed and power consumption who's using an RFS or a EXT4. not all android phone are using ext even with the same version, a "smart" phone is useless if you can only use it in a few hours. With that reason nexus s is worth to buy as a "smart phone"
I want to know is that true? is that accurate information?
Can i change file system on galaxy s from RFS to ext3 ?
how ext3 is better than ext4?

You can change the fs. Or wait for gingerbread S port.

It's all software, hardware is pretty much the same... So, SGS can probably be as fast as NS.

And while a file system may be more power efficient than another, it only plays a tiny part in the power consumption of your phone - and none at all when it is not used like when browsing the web or playing a game!
So the speed side is correct (this is the 'lag' - and I agree that lag is not fixed by dual core processors). But the power side is not. Not having lag means you are finished faster, and less time equals less battery usage. That is all there is to it. Do more in that day and your battery will last even shorter (but you have done more!).

6x about what? overall? I/O? Not even a benchmark attached, maybe the dear old maybe-faulty-maybe-not Quadrant?

It's fake. Nexus S is runing on YAFFS and ext4, just like Galaxy S running on voodoo

Its probably complete crap.. Depends what work load they used for testing too. Most the monkeys who write that stuff never tested it. Also, we don't have enough information about the lag problem to know why the stalls happen. But the latest unofficial firmware seems to have been greatly optimized

thanks all bayerischbeer , jutezak, Rawat and Auzy for your answers
Stefanauss sorry i don't understand your answer coze my english is not good
but still noone answered this Q : how ext3 is better than ext4?

xname2004 said:
thanks all bayerischbeer , jutezak, Rawat and Auzy for your answers
Stefanauss sorry i don't understand your answer coze my english is not good
but still noone answered this Q : how ext3 is better than ext4?
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Click to collapse
Ext4 is slightly faster than 3 but this is marginal. Ext4 serves a better purpose on journaling millions of files on insane storage (TBs).

What's the big deal about EXT4?

Ok can someone explain the difference between EXT4 and the regular software the I'm running..... right now I'm using roto jmi firmware version 2, my tab feels fast, quadrant score of 1006 but I hear everyone saying converting to EXT4 will make it that much faster......
......basically is it worth me doing it?
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App

EXT4 is a filesystem, not software. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ext4
Its faster than the rfs filesystem the galaxy tab uses by default because of the way it manages **** writes.
So yeah, if you experience random lagging, this will fix it and should make it generally more fluid

KingofXings said:
Ok can someone explain the difference between EXT4 and the regular software the I'm running..... right now I'm using roto jmi firmware version 2, my tab feels fast, quadrant score of 1006 but I hear everyone saying converting to EXT4 will make it that much faster......
......basically is it worth me doing it?
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
Personally, I think you see more performance gains going from stock to a JMI ROM, than you will going to EXT4 from RFS on a JMI ROM.
Yes, quadrant appears much faster, but in real world usage there isn't as much difference.
So my advice is, if you're happy with what you've got, leave it alone for now.
Regards,
Dave

I disagree, I ran on a JMI rom with the original file system for about 2 weeks and then upgraded to EXT4 and I definitely noticed a speed improvement. Well worth the conversion since it only took about 10 minutes and went very smoothly.

this is my point exactly, my tab runs smooths, feels fast enough so i wonder how much faster can EXT4 make it??
i suppose theres a part of me inside thats never satisfied and even knowing that there is a possibility that i could potentially make my tab faster makes me wanna switch to EXT4.....
but i have 3 questions..
1) what does quadrant scores actually mean in real life?
2) does using EXT4 over the standard RFS effect or improve battery life?
3) and will samsung revert back to RFS if i ever decided to change roms?

KingofXings said:
this is my point exactly, my tab runs smooths, feels fast enough so i wonder how much faster can EXT4 make it??
i suppose theres a part of me inside thats never satisfied and even knowing that there is a possibility that i could potentially make my tab faster makes me wanna switch to EXT4.....
but i have 3 questions..
1) what does quadrant scores actually mean in real life?
2) does using EXT4 over the standard RFS effect or improve battery life?
3) and will samsung revert back to RFS if i ever decided to change roms?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my experience, converting to EXT4 (first) made a remarkable improvement even on the stock ROM, then installing the Overcome ROM was icing on the cake.
1) quadrant scores don't mean squat (IMHO)
2) possibly -- due to more efficient I/O
3) doesn't matter -- once you do change ROMs, you will never go back to any "Samsung" (oem) ROM.

gwbard said:
In my experience, converting to EXT4 (first) made a remarkable improvement even on the stock ROM, then installing the Overcome ROM was icing on the cake.
1) quadrant scores don't mean squat (IMHO)
2) possibly -- due to more efficient I/O
3) doesn't matter -- once you do change ROMs, you will never go back to any "Samsung" (oem) ROM.
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Click to collapse
ok ur making me wanna make the switch but does it matter that my tab is already running the roto jmi firmwire v2 b4 i make the conversion to EXT4?
plus is overcome that much more better suited to EXT4 than roto jmi?

KingofXings said:
ok ur making me wanna make the switch but does it matter that my tab is already running the roto jmi firmwire v2 b4 i make the conversion to EXT4?
plus is overcome that much more better suited to EXT4 than roto jmi?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't really answer about Roto's for sure -- I started with the stock (JJB) ROM and first applied MoDaCo's r3 kernel
(+ext4 conversion +clockwork recovery).
The MoDaCo conversion was very easy & I rebooted back to the stock ROM with no problem -- then flashed Overcome via CWM a day or so later.
The Overcome (and MoDaCo) ROMs were meant for EXT4 specifically -- not sure about Roto's, maybe someone else can answer that. If I were you I would have the Overcome zip ready to go on the sdcard, so you can easily get back to CWM and flash it if Roto's doesn't work out.

If I switch to EXT4, will this cause a compatibility problem with my PC which runs windows vista? More specifically, can my windows vista laptop read the EXT4 formatted microSD in my gtab ?

Converting to EXT4 only converts the OS partition. It does nothing to your SD cards, which I believe are in the FAT32 file system.

....So while we are talking about EXT4...Has anyone considered EXT4 on android with consideration of read/write cycles?
Some background: I've had several netbook and still have a dell mini 9. They have always run linux (specifically fedora). All have had SSDs. SSD have (and I guess newer SSDs still have) and number of read/write cycles that are finite (before you should expect failure). This is somewhat like the mean time to failure for spinny/mechnical HDs.
There was mild concern in the netbook forums that journalling filesystems would 'encourage' premature failure of SSDs. By 'premature', I mean happen sooner than expected as journalling FSs do all sorts of read/writes for the journal maintenance....For many, my self included, it was felt that this is not a huge issue as the number of read/writes was pretty big and that you would 'grow out' of the device before the time it takes to get to the number (or the device is obsoluted).
So, SSDs are flashed based. Is the android file system devices like an SSD? No idea and I think not. I bet many internal android storage devices, including SGT's, are flash based. I suspect the read/write cycles are a characteristice of flash memory and not an SSD thing.
So are journalling filesystems (specifically ext4) a concern on andorid for this reason? For me, probably not (i'll want something new in a year anyway...)
FWIW: ext4 and probably other journalling FSs have a way to turn off the journal features. The idea is that you'd get the other good stuff of ext4, but not the excessive read/writes (i.e. wear and tear on HD or SSD). Some netbookers, opted to do this while using EXT4; I never did. I wonder if the android ext4 'stuff' has this on or off?

Well, the Samsung RFS stands for Robust FAT File System, and it is basically FAT with Journaling slapped on top for protection, so I am guessing the journaling isn't too big a problem
But, this is exactly where the problems with RFS come in, it is a rather slapped together filesystem, and the drivers are none too great either. Whereas, EXT4 is a filesystem made for linux, and all the drivers etc are a heck of a lot better.
To the OP, the major benefits come in when writing files, such as installing programs etc, which is a LOT quicker. One of the main problems with the RFS setup is it takes comparatively forever to sync/write each file to the flash because of the slapped on journaling on a filesystem not really meant for it. There is a slight increase in speed/responsiveness all around because of the more efficient I/O, but yeah that is the major benefit.
Personally, I have gone to Overcome's v1.2.0 rom and kernel, ext4 filesystem etc, and will not be looking back. I also have the good fortune of being in a household with 2 tabs, the other being my father's which he does not want to even root let alone flash, so I will be doing a video comparison between stock and mine in the next few days, for all those interested in seeing the benefits compared to stock.

Ext4 and lagfix

What exactly is ext4 because I don't notice any difference at all in the performance of my phone. I'm also running voodoo lagfix on GingerReal 5.1.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

hi, a little bit of info.
EXT4 is another Filesystem that we use instead of the stock RFS offered by Samsung
It IS faster but since 2.2.1 (IMO) you really can't see the difference in performance because Samsung optimised the Filesystem (god help them as they STILL didn't change it) It is faster in read write and is more robust than RFS
Anyone wanting to correct me may do so
EDIT: your benchmark scores, like quadrant will be higher

Everyone is always saying to get the ultimate experience you need to flash a custom rom, apply a lagfix and change to ext4. I have done all these and cannot see the difference in performance at all.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

seeraj15 said:
Everyone is always saying to get the ultimate experience you need to flash a custom rom, apply a lagfix and change to ext4. I have done all these and cannot see the difference in performance at all.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
well, the stock roms got way better over time. 2.1 was unusable and 2.2 just bad. with 2.2.1 things changed and the phone got pretty good without root or custom roms ... or lagfixes
If you don't feel any difference after applying a lagfix decide what you're more comfortable with and leave the phone on that file system. consider the fact that you'll have to be on rfs to flash a rom via odin.
If you want to speed up your phone try juwe's memory optimization
a different launcher might also help (launcher pro and gingerbread stock are fast ones I know)
what else... don't install IM clients or anti virus programs, they tend to kill battery and sometimes performance.
you could also look into overclocking but I was never either comfortable with the idea nor did I feel any need to.
EDIT:
instead of flashing the zip file from juwe you can download Galaxy tuner, go to memory manager and set up everything yourself
values are as following (juwe's)
VM: 50; 10; 50; 100; 90; 5
EDIT II:
praveen6585 did the math for the lowmemkill settings, those are:
10; 16; 24; 48; 56; 72
mine are a bit lower, I feel it's a bit faster in daily use because applications that were just used stay in the RAM longer

theduckking said:
well, the stock roms got way better over time. 2.1 was unusable and 2.2 just bad. with 2.2.1 things changed and the phone got pretty good without root or custom roms ... or lagfixes
If you don't feel any difference after applying a lagfix decide what you're more comfortable with and leave the phone on that file system. consider the fact that you'll have to be on rfs to flash a rom via odin.
If you want to speed up your phone try juwe's memory optimization
a different launcher might also help (launcher pro and gingerbread stock are fast ones I know)
what else... don't install IM clients or anti virus programs, they tend to kill battery and sometimes performance.
you could also look into overclocking but I was never either comfortable with the idea nor did I feel any need to.
EDIT:
instead of flashing the zip file from juwe you can download Galaxy tuner, go to memory manager and set up everything yourself
values are as following (juwe's)
VM: 50; 10; 50; 100; 90; 5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just to be sure swp=50
vcp=10
dec=50
dwc=100
dra=90
dbr=5
is that correct?
ive never messed with these settings before and dont want to muck things up

gtda said:
just to be sure swp=50
vcp=10
dec=50
dwc=100
dra=90
dbr=5
is that correct?
ive never messed with these settings before and dont want to muck things up
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, that's correct, I added the lowmem kill settings to my previous post

thanks mate, giving them ago now, ill give it a day or so. rfs is fast but i do notice the difference with ext4

I don't know, but I surely felt aspeed difference when removing the ext4 partition both on froyo and gb. Also gb seems to be a lot smoother stock than froyo, even with the 500hz kernel. Also I prefer hardcore's speedmod on both versions.
PS: I used android assistant's hourly boost on both and it helped me much. I have yet to try these lowmem settings so I'd be glad for any info on their usefullness.
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