Creating a fileserver - filesystem choices

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Soldato
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This probably gets asked a lot, but I have done some reading, and I'm still a little stumped.

I want to set up a secure fileserver, no doubt running CentOS server or similar (maybe Openfiler, FreeNAS or something). Basically, I am thinking about the filesystem.

I'm not sure how much of an impact it has, but being a Windows person, I've come to like NTFS and its stability (relative) in terms of corruption etc.

Basically, I'm looking for the same for a multi user file store which may be accessed at the same time by different users (potentially). It will hold music, video and documents. I'm going to keep it backed up via USB anyway, but I wonder which filesystem is best for this use.

I'm a complete Linux n00b (well, not entirely, but pretty much).

I've been looking at ext3 and XFS. Each obviously has its own pitfalls but I wonder if you guys can recommend me a suitable system for this.

This system may contain files over 4GB, as I understand that this can make a difference.

Thanks in advance.
 
ext3 would probably be fine as it's the best general-purpose file system. XFS is handy when you are trying to delete large (> 1 GiB) files as its almost instantaneous. The drawback is that it's not as mature. You wouldn't go wrong choosing either.
 
Thanks guys - I'll go for ext3 then. Pretty much the default for most systems now anyway is it not?

Any one used Openfiler? I do like the layout and the fact it is CentOS based, so I might just try it out. If not, I'll customise CentOS 5 server.
 
I've always used reiserfs because of it's speed when dealing with small files, but I doubt it is going to be further developed or supported.
 
Saikor said:
I've always used reiserfs because of it's speed when dealing with small files, but I doubt it is going to be further developed or supported.
Click to expand...
Indeed, Hans' wikipedia entry is unfortunate reading isn't it :o I heard the company was going to be sold or something though :/
 
reiserfs under certain circumstances can be corrupted beyond repair.

For bigger files you should use JFS or XFS, but mostly ext3 will work.
 
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