With Linux 2.6.32, Btrfs Gains As EXT4 Recedes

With our compress-gzip test profile to measure the time needed to compress a 2GB sample file, EXT3 was the fastest. Following EXT3 was Btrfs, XFS, and then EXT4.

Next up was our new FS-Mark test profile in the Phoronix Test Suite. When it came to running FS-Mark with a 1,000 files, 1MB file-size test, EXT3 was the fastest and far ahead of the rest of the file-systems. EXT3 was sustaining 95 files per second while Btrfs and XFS were close to each other at 35 files/sec, but EXT4 faltered and came even behind ReiserFS again with just 29 files/sec.

We next ran the same FS-Mark test again, but this time we ran it with the no sync/fsync calling option, since the fsync change was what had slowed down EXT4 a great deal in the Linux 2.6.32 kernel. EXT3 remained in front while ReiserFS ran up into third place and Btrfs captured a second place finish. Btrfs was at 62 files/sec, XFS at 49 files/sec, and EXT4 in last at 42 files/sec.