File systems and Live USB

[Member rallan]

Surprisingly I have not seen this topic discussed anywhere.

As of 2020, I understand the typical file system format for most Linux distros is

ext4

. However I find I am often being steered towards using FAT32 for live USB; e.g; ISO installers such as Rufus or Pendrive USB installer either don’t include ext4 as an option or pop-up a “do you really want to do this” prompt first.

I was unable to boot-up antix 17 from either an external SSD or USB stick formatted in ext4. I have not tried my external disk harddrive. FAT32 always works.

Is this typical? Does ext4 not work with flash memory and/or live USB? I am aware of the file size and journalling benefits of ext4 over FAT32, is there any i/o performance benefit live USB on FAT32 is missing out on? Do any of the alternative Linux file systems have similar issues (e.g; btrfs)?

cheers Randy

[Forum Admin Dave]

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rallan wrote:

Is this typical? Does ext4 not work with flash memory and/or live USB? I am aware of the file size and journalling benefits of ext4 over FAT32, is there any i/o performance benefit live USB on FAT32 is missing out on? Do any of the alternative Linux file systems have similar issues (e.g; btrfs)?

I am unaware of that being typical behavior. I think live-usb-maker utility defaults to ext but I could be wrong. I have been using ext format on my USB sticks for quite some time now without any ill effects. (well windows cannot read them but is that a problem?) io performance… I never tested but I am sure someone has. I like that the permissions work properly with an ext format. Again not certain on other Linux formats and any issues there in. I do have a faint memory of there being issues with the live persistence system using ntfs formated USB sticks.

Computers are like air conditioners. They work fine until you start opening Windows. ~Author Unknown

[Member Xecure]

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I believe UEFI can only boot from FAT32. Your EFI boot files should be stored in a Fat32 partition in the USB. As Dave says, the live-usb-maker creates a ext partition to store the antiX live system, but also creates a Fat32 partition for the bootloader, which will contain the grub, syslinux and EFi information.

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

[Member rallan]

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I have not used live-usb-maker yet – have so far only used more generalized USB installers such as Rufus and Pendrive – but will start to employ it if it automates USB file system formatting/partitioning and can do so in a way that is tailored for antix.

I think a journalling FS is best-practice nowadays, too risky not to have it, for this reason I would like to avoid FAT as much as possible. In this regard the optimal solution for Linux in 2020 (still) seems to be ext4, with btrfs being a strong consideration if it really is the next and inevitable evolutionary step as some sites claim.

Thanks for the tip on UEFI only booting from FAT, explains why the broad-spectrum USB installers constrain the user to some variant of FAT, or NTFS. I was able to force Rufus to install antix on to an ext4-formatted USB stick (no FAT). My laptop – which is legacy BIOS, not UEFI – would not boot up from it. Maybe BIOS is also restricted to FAT-formatted boot drives? O/W it’s a problem at my end.

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