[yocto] Question about file systems

[Paul D. DeRocco]

This is really a Linux question, but since it is specifically about embedded
systems, I'm hoping this group is a good place to ask.

My application is based on an Atom, with a small USB flash drive (SLC) for
its storage. I'm trying to decide what file system to use. The application
doesn't do a lot of file accesses, and of course I'll mount the partition(s)
with "noatime" since I don't care about recording access times. But I'm
concerned that if someone yanks the plug, rather than pushing the button for
an orderly shutdown, the next boot will do a long "fsck", and the user will
think the system is broken.

So I guess the questions are these: Are ext2, ext3 and ext4 all equally
likely to need to do an "fsck" after a disorderly shutdown? Do they
typically take different amounts of time to do an "fsck"? Or is the
journaling of ext3 and ext4 something that should be avoided on a flash
drive at all costs, even though my app won't be doing much file access?

Also, my app stores its own data in a directory tree of typically a few
hundred small files. Would it be a win or a lose to break this off into a
separate small partition? I was actually thinking of making this a FAT32
partition, so that I could yank the drive and access those files in any
other machine.

Any insights would be appreciated.

-- 

Ciao,               Paul D. DeRocco
Paul                mailto:pderocco at ix.netcom.com