"I just converted VarLinux.org from using the Reiserfs
filesystem to the ext3 journaling filesystem. I'm a big fan of
Reiserfs, and I haven't changed my opinion of the filesystem. I
simply want to kick the tires on ext3 and take it around the block
a few times to see what there is to like or dislike.
There are many technical differences between the two
filesystems, but there are only three differences that most people
should care about. First, you can do an in-place conversion from
ext2, which until recently was the default filesystem for most
Linux distributions. Second, you can set ext3 to journal data as
well as metadata. Today, Reiserfs journals metadata only.
Let's look at these first two differences before we get to the
third, because the third deserves special attention.
The in-place conversion of ext2 systems is a nice win for ext3.
It obviously wasn't useful in my case since my system was built on
Reiserfs, but I can see where a lot of users won't even think about
trying any other journaling filesystem besides ext3, simply because
it's easier to move from ext2 to ext3 than from ext2 to any other
filesystem."
