Best /etc/fstab setings for boosting SSD/HDD

Question

I know EXT4 is the fastest by 3y already checking test blog posts from different authors But theres also other settings that make SSD faster i found in http://www.howtogeek.com/62761/how-to-tweak-your-ssd-in-ubuntu-for-better-performance/

sudo gedit /etc/fstab
add to / partition <options> noatime,nodiratime,
and also if kernel is >2.6.33 also add discard,
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,noatime,mode=1777 0 0

AND https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MagicFab/SSDchecklist

sudo gedit /etc/fstab
add to / partition <options> noatime, and thats it
and data=writeback mounting option if you formatted the disk without journaling. Otherwise add data=ordered which sould be a good compromise between full journaling and none at all.
tmpfs   /tmp  tmpfs  nodev,nosuid,noexec,mode=1777  0 0

why only noatime? And how to know if disk is without journaling from installation? And whats faster? No Jornaling or opposite? And diff no journaling data=writeback or journaled data=ordered?

And why tmpfs /tmp differs in both arcticles and how they dffer and witch is better and why?

All of this is about SSD but can i use same settings in HDD? I want to find answer for HDD and SSD as ive made one time scripts for setting it up in my https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kangarooo/AfterCleanInstallation

Answer 1

The howtogeek site is the more responsible of the two sites you mentioned. The atime tweaks are just metadata optimization that pipeline when a file will receive a certain timestamp update. It's applicable regardless of the media you use, it also depends on how sensitive your application is to the coherency of that metadata. Most desktop users won't miss it.

Now as for disabling journaling... that's just crazy. That's the whole point of using these advanced file systems: better performance while securing data integrity. Understand that if you make this trade you're exchanging your personal data for a modest increase in speed. I personally wouldn't recommend it. Most people don't keep good backup's to begin with to compensate for taking this risk.

Partition alignment does matter but not tweaking that bit won't kill you either. It really depends on how heavily the disk is accessed. Assuming it's unaligned, if you had tons of I/O going on a regular basis (server) you would see an improvement. On average desktop usage, who knows, probably not appreciable.

I would disregard that Ubuntu wiki you mentioned except for the notion that partition alignment is valuable. Here's a more responsible link:

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-4kb-sector-disks/index.html?ca=dgr-lnxw074KB-Disksdth-LX

Some of the recommendations in that Ubuntu wiki are just plain wrong, like the reconfiguration of tmpfs using "nodev". It's already a RAMFS!

Moving firefox cache to /tmp may increase speed in your current session. Though it might be a security hazard (not secured in your home anymore) and it will be rebuilt on each boot since tmpfs isn't persistent.

Summary:

Adding discard to ext4 options is prudent, writeback is the default mode, leave journaling settings alone, the atime tweaks are fine, and the switch to deadline or nop scheduler might also be useful, partition alignment is optional. The rest is bunk.

Answer 2

The discard option is no longer suggested for SSD-hosted filesystems, as it slows things down because the Linux kernel has a non-optimized implementation of the command. (IIRC, TRIM requests only use one ATA sector range at a time, making it slow.)

Instead, create a daily cron job that runs fstrim -v / (or whatever your SSD partitions are). This is the solution that Ubuntu 14.04 LTS will be shipping with. [1]

Answer 3

Do not enable 'noexec' on /tmp or you will face problem with certain 3D drivers which require executing from /tmp. NVIDIA drivers for modern hardware have this requirement, any application you have will segfault (like xscreensaver glmatrix) if you have 'noexec' enabled.

Answer 4

In addition to ppetraki's answer, if flash wear is a concern, you should mount a RAM file system for your /tmp folder.

tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,size=15%,mode=1777 0 0
tmpfs /var/tmp tmpfs defaults,size=10%,mode=1777 0 0

But don't move your /var/log files to RAM unless you're sure you won't crash ;) AND you've already installed all your server packages that create new /var/log directories (like apache) and don't like to have them disappear between boots:

tmpfs /var/log tmpfs defaults,mode=0755 0 0 
tmpfs /var/log/apt tmpfs defaults 0 0
none /var/cache unionfs dirs=/tmp:/var/cache=ro 0 0

This is a blend of JR0cket's answer and other blog articles on the topic.