With Ubuntu and other distros now supporting Ext4 partitions what is the future direction for QuickStart ?

I think I am correct in stating that Q.S uses Partimage and that programme has not been maintained recently or will be into the future.

It does not support Ext4 partitions and is not likely to either............................

I presume therefore Q.S will not work on Ext4 partitions ?

I have been experimenting with a couple of Ext4 partitions and Clonezilla (sorry for swearing!)

I love Q.S and have relied on it on many occasions .

but ?

regards to all

Interesting, not everyone is using ext4 yet and instead of asking if QS will support it in the future you stated it doesn't work with ext4 now and "presume" it won't in the future. You didn't even bother to ask.



I like that "I've been experimenting with" but you expect that 100% of the programs out there will behave quite nicely on ext4. For me ext4 is new and has to prove itself before I go there.

Have a nice day.
Bruce

@ mdpalow, ext4 is a new way to "format" your Hard drive in Linux.

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-ext4/

CHIMO!
Bruce

Yeah, I'm actually familiar with EXT4 and know what it's about. I just wasn't entirely clear what PJ was wanting to see fixed, upgraded, or done with QuickStart.

Not even sure what QuickStart has to do with EXT4 at this point - OTHER than it installs gParted, which doesn't support EXT4 I assume he's saying. I'll have to give it some thought to see what I might be missing. I don't work much in QuickStart right now, so I do forget things about it after some time.

PJ, were you asking me to add another program - similar to gParted - that supports EXT4? If so, tell me which one you think is best. We can debate it here and then make a decision as to which one we would like to see added.

I do agree with Bruce though about EXT4 needing to be proven. I won't try it either for a while until I know it's working good. My friend used it and had failures right away.

No worries PJ. I didn't take any offence to your comment. I just need a better description of what you're wanting. If it's not too intense, I can make time for it.

Ok, all we need now is for Talsemgeest to weight-in and we're good.

Have a good day/night everyone.

mdpalow..

Ok, guess it is time to put in my 2c.

From what I have seen, whether to go with ext3 or ext4 is very hotly debated, and seems to be similar to the ever-present debate over emacs and vi (in other words, it can be a bit emotionally charged.) Some people have brilliant speeds with ext4 with absolutely no problems, while other people have every problem possible with it. However, since ext4 is included with Ubuntu 9.04, it seems only fair that programs should at least make an effort to work well with the new filesystem.

Back to what PJ said, I am guessing he/she might be reffering to the image-style backup. I am not completely sure whether it will work 100% with ext4. So, just to make sure everything works with ext4, I will install Jaunty in a virtual machine, on the ext4 filesystem and just do some quick checks to make sure everything works (I am sure that anything done in a vm should work on a real machine as well.)

Sorry if I am offending anyone !

my words were short as usual and perhaps did not have enough explanation.................

I am only being critical of the Partimage programme

quote :
http://www.partimage.org/Main_Page

Warning: Partimage does not support ext4 and btrfs filesystems. If you need an ext4 / btrfs support or if you need modern features (checksumming, multi-thread compression, encryption, flexibility in the size) you should try FSArchiver.

FSArchiver gets good reports on the Ubuntu forum.

quote:
http://clonezilla.org/

Filesystem supported: ext2, ext3 (ext4 is supported now in testing branch),

Based on Partimage, ntfsclone ,partclone, and dd to clone partition. However, clonezilla, containing some other programs, can save and restore not only partitions, but also a whole disk.

quote:
http://partclone.nchc.org.tw/

Welcome Partclone

Partclone is a project similar to the well-known backup utility "Partition Image" a.k.a partimage. Partclone provides utilities to back up and restore used-blocks of a partition and it is designed for higher compatibility of the file system by using existing library, e.g. e2fslibs is used to read and write the ext2 partition.

Partclone supports ext2, ext3, hfs+, reiser3.5, reiser3.6, reiser4 and # ext4 now.#

Clonezilla only runs off a live cd so may I put forward two programmes that I would suggest for consideration into long term inclusion into Q.S - if possible (with my limited knowledge really)


Partclone or FSArchiver

regards

p.s I have not had any problems running Ext4 on Jaunty or Archlinux-so far !

Now that's a good post! Got it...

Thanks PJ

Anyone else have anything to input, so we can make a decision?

thanks,

mdpalow

Well, if you do do the ext4 thing, I hope you retain the ext3 thing as well.

I doubt I'll be using it in the foreseeable future.

mdpalow

just so there is no confusion- with respect you have used the word gParted (the disk partitioner ) twice now when I am talking about Partimage (used for your option to image a partition).

I am not suggesting an addition to the list of installable applications...............

but trying to highlight the fact that................

long term Partimage may have to be replaced for Q.S to have the ability to backup/restore Ext4 image partitions .

hope I am making myself clear.........

regards

Yes! Thanks PJ.

You know, in the back of my mind I thought that might be the thing, but I'm so busy right now (even as I type this) working on a project I'm not able to give this all a lot of thought.

Ok, thanks for being clear and saving me the time of doing all this now.

You've got me very intrigued right now. I'm almost tempted to go over to Ubuntu and look at the code to see how I can/could 'ADD' and option for EXT4 users. But, that will have to wait a short while. Might be able to get in over there in the next few minutes. Reaching a good break point in a few.

Thanks again PJ...

Ok, I'm looking at the QuickStart code and think we can incorporate an addition for EXT4.

Four of the six functions in imaging don't even have anything to do with partimage, so they will most likely be able to remain the same. The partimage code can/will remain the same for EXT3 and below.

Depending on the new program we decide to add/use, it'll simply be a matter of looking at the help files to determine the level of terminal support they have. I'll have to look at the command line options. Once I know how the program operates and what options are best suited, it SHOULDN'T be too hard to add and additional option for EXT4 users.

mdpalow

PJ, you can head-up this project, if you like, by soliciting recommendations, picking best suited program, etc., etc. Then post here and we can go from there.

Do any of the programs you mentioned also work with EXT3?

thanks,

mdpalow

Great to hear, I will be testing it in my vm when we have any developments.

o.k after a bit of investigation work :

Partclone has limited information available on it's website : http://partclone.nchc.org.tw/

FSArchiver has plenty : http://www.fsarchiver.org/Main_Page

from the Ubuntu forum :

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php? ... fsarchiver

quote:
Re: Making a backup with PartImage and Ext4
Interesting that you mentioned fsarchiver. I emailed one of the listed developers of PartImage yesterday to ask if they would be supporting ext4 in future PartImage releases. He explained that he no longer works on PartImage himself, but has been working on his new project, fsarchiver, which supports ext4. The downside is that it's only a command line tool. However, he's planning to give it a GUI once it's more refined.

I'm a little reluctant to switch to ext4 for minor speed improvements when it means no longer being able to use PartImage, as I love PartImage. However, if fsarchiver turns out to be easy to use, then I'm prepared to make the switch.

EDIT: The syntax is this quickstart guide looks pretty straight forward. I'm prepared to give it a go. http://www.fsarchiver.org/QuickStart

----------------

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php? ... fsarchiver

quote:
Re: How to back up ext4 root partition in Jaunty_32?
FYI:

On a fully updated beta jaunty 9.04, I have now managed to backup a ext4 partition with a tool called fsarchiver, its similar to partimage, but only CLI. (partimage is cool, but does not yet support ext4 and is currently dormant as a project)

http://www.fsarchiver.org/Main_Page
http://www.fsarchiver.org/QuickStart
static binary:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showf...kage_id=299271

For me it did not restore grub to the root partition, info here:
http://www.fsarchiver.org/forums/vie...hp?p=2266#2266

--------------------


Logic says investigate more into the use of FSArchiver to see if it can be used to improve your Q.S .

The above listed websites would seem to give the information you need and also there is the forum :

http://www.fsarchiver.org/forums/index.php


hope this helps