Question for Linux admins: As of Debian 12 (bookworm), Linux kernel version 6.1, is btrfs reliable? btrfs has such a bad reputation for being unreliable, but I don't know if that's finally fixed.
@Matt Campbell Recently I went with btrfs raid 1 setup with two hard drives in my home computer instead of classic mdadm based raid array. Features that caught my attention include:
Ability to use more than two discs.
Ability to replace discs with larger ones gradually growing the file system in the process.
Reportedly better redundancy as compared to the mdadm based raid array.
I have created this on Arch linux with 6.11 kernel which is now upgraded to 6.12 kernel though. And I am running this kind of setup for a few weeks only with no incident. So perhaps you should wait for some more success stories before using it with your business data.
Edit: Oh, I've forgotten, I think raid 5 and raid 6 configurations are considered unstable. Mirroring should be fine for a few years already.
I’ve used it as my primary file system for years now. It’s been great overall. I have had some data loss in the past when using with raid 5 or 6, and that’s typically where the dangers lie with it still. (Most of the data was recoverable but it was a pain.) My current btrfs setup is a span across 3 hardware raids, so it’s more like lvm but I can add or remove as needed, and don’t have to worry about the raid5/6 issues.
using btrfs since like 2020 on Arch in simple non-raid config with compression on all my home and work laptops and workstations. didn't have issues. Only noticed a lot of snapshots caused some slowdowns, so I don't use them much.
Peter Vágner
in reply to Matt Campbell • •@Matt Campbell Recently I went with btrfs raid 1 setup with two hard drives in my home computer instead of classic mdadm based raid array.
Features that caught my attention include:
I have created this on Arch linux with 6.11 kernel which is now upgraded to 6.12 kernel though. And I am running this kind of setup for a few weeks only with no incident. So perhaps you should wait for some more success stories before using it with your business data.
Edit: Oh, I've forgotten, I think raid 5 and raid 6 configurations are considered unstable. Mirroring should be fine for a few years already.
jon ⚝
in reply to Matt Campbell • • •Peter Vágner likes this.
Geno
in reply to Matt Campbell • • •My current btrfs setup is a span across 3 hardware raids, so it’s more like lvm but I can add or remove as needed, and don’t have to worry about the raid5/6 issues.
ngz0
in reply to Matt Campbell • • •