[colug-432] MicroSD cards: exFAT or ext?

[Chris Clonch]

On 2013-02-07 10:43, Scott Merrill wrote:
> I currently have a traditional external USB HDD (read: rotational
> media) attached to this. The use case for this system doesn't merit a
> solid state hard drive, but I could use USB sticks or SD cards to
> avoid physical wear and tear.
> ...
> I'm curious if any folks here can share personal experiences with
> reformatting SDXC cards to use native Linux filesystems?  How's the
> performance? The longevity?

Can't speak to SDXC, but here is my experiences with USB stick and SDHC 
based systems:

I have an Atom-based "file server" which boots from a USB stick.  I 
mount /home from the raided drives and tmpfs /var/log, /var/tmp and 
/tmp; all others are on the stick and use ext2/4.  I run Arch on it (so 
rolling releases) and update, on average, quarterly.  It has been 
running this way for 2+ years now.  While I've not done any formal 
testing, I haven't noticed substandard performance for an atom-based 
system.

I also have a Sheevaplug running Debian with a similar filesystem 
structure but on a class 10 SDHC card (8GB I believe).  I also believe I 
set it to bypass the onboard flash (so no JFFS) and boot from the SD 
card.  Presently I don't have connectivity to it so I cannot confirm 
this.  Its been running less than a year, but I anticipate a similar 
lifespan to my file server.  Again, no formal tests, but I can't discern 
any performance pros/cons due to the chipset.

As others have mentioned and alluded to, keep good backups, a spare 
stick/card on hand and you'll be good to go on these small, low-powered 
platforms.

-Chris