[JackPollack]

I want to do some simple sharing of files between computers (downloads, drivers etc)

What is the best file system to use with an SSD and DDWRT samba?

I've done a bit of of research and some people recommend ext2, some ext3 and some ext4.

I did a quick speed test moving a 20gb file with the drive formatted as NTFS and ext4 and ext4 was 20% faster.

One article I read said that ext2 can only support files under 2gb in size, so if that is the case I would prefer ext3 or ext4.

If I go with ext3 or ext4 I assume I would want to to disable journeying? Is that correct and how do I do that?

And a slightly off topic question, my router has both USB3 and an ESATA port which one should I use?

Thanks in advance

[Mr R Design]

Do your test again between EXT2 and NTFS. EXT2 does not journal and is not limited to 2gb. Once formatted EXT2 will show in DD-WRT as EXT4 even though it is actually EXT2.

You will need a psu if you use Esata so use a USB port. USB3 may cause interference so try the USB2 port as well if you have one (or use a USB2 cable from the USB3 port). Check for the interference on the wireless tab and watch what happens to the SNR.

EXT2 works best for me on my R7800, I use the NAS for downloading torrents and subsequent playback of videos.

[the-joker]

IDK what articles you are reading, some sources of information are not reliable. I seek information from well establish authorities and/or technical documentation on the subject. everything else is safely taken with a pinch of salt and not to be trusted blindly without verification.

EXT4 for a SSD is better than EXT2/3 IMO given my own personal experience on the subject outside of DD-WRT, mind. The processing power of a SSD is vastly superior to that of a HDD in all aspects and its so fast that journaling becomes a non issue, though it can be disabled on regular Linux, never tried DD-WRT side, however tune2fs is available on DD-WRT to tweak the FS, to disable would be something like tune2fs -O ^has_journal, tune4fs doesn't exist in DD-WRT and that command is originally using tune4fs.

TRIM! DD-WRT -- Busybox includes fstrim.c, however running the fstrim command, without any external SSD mounted yields command not found (could be this is reserved to more powerful routers). It is available as a entware package from OpenWRT. Not a big issue per say, you can simply plug the drive on a Linux system and trim it, if it comes to it.

Unless you have a mechanical HDD I would stick to modern filesystems, they are better featured and can always enable/disable something with tune2fs rather than be limited by non existing features with older FS.
You can also upgrade filesystems with no data loss from EXT2 to 3 or 4, but not recommended on a piddly DD-WRT router CPU, you cannot downgrade FS versions.

Yea plenty info out there, just ask your friendly neighborhood search engine and remember only use information from reputable sources and not some unknown Joe's blog and always verify your information from independent sources, trust but verify is key.