Possible data loss in Ext4
A bug report posted in the bug tracker for the next version of Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) describes a massive data loss problem when using Ext4, the future standard file system for Linux, available as an option when installing Ubuntu 9.04. The report describes a crash occurring shortly after the KDE 4 desktop files had been loaded, resulting in the loss of all of the data that had been created, including many KDE configuration files.
In a reply, Ext4 Developer Ted Ts'o explains the background of the problem. Like other modern file systems, such as XFS, Ext4 implements delayed allocation – writing new data can take up to 60 seconds. This increases the performance and allows for optimisation of the data organisation on the hard drive platter.
The KDE and GNOME desktop applications often read and write a large number of small files (for example, the configuration files for your personal settings). If the system crashes there may not be enough time for the data to be allocated and written to the hard drive – under ext4, the files may be truncated.
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