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BTRFS for Linux gaming? (lemy.lol)

submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I'm using EndeavourOS with ext4 file system for daily usage and a dual bootable Windows for gaming. What I want to have right now is getting rid of Windows completely.

When I tried it before, I had to try multiple tweaks for a game and find which one worked on Linux. Therefore, I want to take a snapshot with BTRFS and try it until I find the right configuration.

While I have quite a bit of experience with Linux, I've never used BTRFS. Do you think it's worth it?

I thought about keeping the games on the ext4 system, but I hate splitting the disk. I'm thinking of keeping the games in a non-snapshot volume.

UPDATE: I just re-installed EndeavourOS with BTRFS + snapper + BTRFS Assistant :)

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

What do you mean splitting the disk? I just recently removed windows, moved and resized both boot and primary partition to take over all the space, now it is a pure Ext4 disk. I would not use BTRFS for your use case but that is up to you.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

I meant using BTRFS for system and ext4 for the game folder. Why you wouldn't use BTRFS though?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I saw the other comments, BTRFS appears to work fine, I wouldn't use it because it is unfinished (there are some features not ready according to the status page) but I guess it is stable.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

The main issue with btrfs is the RAID 5/6 write hole. If you aren't planning to use RAID 5/6, it's fine.

There are some other problems too, but those don't affect data integrity. The most annoying one currently is that defragmenting breaks reflinks, such that snapshots get turned into full copies, potentially wasting a lot of space. (I have honestly no idea how noticeable fragmentation is on SSDs, and if defragmenting is even worth it nowadays.)