Manual partition ext2 vs. ext4

Which method is better/safer, or faster when you’re installing Manjaro KDE, doing a manual partition?

  1. Setting your boot on ext2 and root on ext4.
    Or,
  2. Setting boot on ext4, and root also ext4?
    I’ve always done method (1), but I just tried method (2), and it works just as well. So I was wondering which I should I use in the future for installing Manjaro?

ext4 all the way

I think there was some dependability arguments for the older ext’s in the past … but these days, even if still true, they would be largely outweighed by modern failsafes and other benefits.

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So is there any down side since my boot on all my computers are set on ext2 and root on ext4? Also forgot to mention. Do you still go with ext4, considering my root only is encrypted, and not boot?

Hello @fhins :wink:

The main reason why ext2 was used for /boot in the past was that grub or any bootloader didn’t support ext3/4 or it was not well supported. Nowadays it does support it.

The main difference between ext2 and ext3/4 is the journal. Also the checks on ext2 with fsck is much slower than on ext3/4.

So in anyway, there is no real reason not to use ext4 for all partitions including /boot as @cscs had mentioned.

Understood, but what about my current computer that the boot is set on ext2? Is it worth the trouble reformatting and set everything on ext4?

In short: NO

But if you like, you can convert it. But anyway, it is generally only adding 3 additional features and renaming ext2 to ext4. That’s it.

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