# Some advice please re: Moving from Linux to FreeBSD



## adr3nal1n (May 12, 2017)

Hi,

I am considering switching from Arch Linux to FreeBSD and have the following queries I am hoping someone can help me with:

1) I have a number of HDDs in my PC that house my data, some use the XFS file system, some use the ext4 file system. I understand I should be able to at least mount the ext4 disks using "
ext4fuse /dev/diskdeviceblah /foo". Is it possible to mount the XFS disks in FreeBSD (read-only would be fine) so I may copy my data across to a new UFS2 formatted disk in FreeBSD?

2) I currently use http://www.snapraid.it under Arch Linux to maintain a parity file (of the various XFS and ext4 disks) on a single hard disk (I am aware of ZFS in FreeBSD but am happy with snapraid and it's ability to work with independent disk volumes). Does a port or package exist for snapraid on FreeBSD? If not, is it difficult to compile one under FreeBSD from source? https://github.com/amadvance/snapraid/releases/download/v11.0/snapraid-11.0.tar.gz

Thanks very much for any help and advice.


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## Oko (May 12, 2017)

adr3nal1n said:


> Hi,
> 
> I am considering switching from Arch Linux to FreeBSD and have the following queries I am hoping someone can help me with:


Why? What problem are you trying to solve which requires you to run FreeBSD? If you don't like systemd just use Alpine Linux. It uses OpenRC.



adr3nal1n said:


> 1) I have a number of HDDs in my PC that house my data, some use the XFS file system, some use the ext4 file system. I understand I should be able to at least mount the ext4 disks using "
> ext4fuse /dev/diskdeviceblah /foo". Is it possible to mount the XFS disks in FreeBSD (read-only would be fine) so I may copy my data across to a new UFS2 formatted disk in FreeBSD?


I am not familiar with Arch but both RedHat 7 and Ubuntu 16.04 LTS has so-so support for ZFS. I would use one of those two systems to move the data to ZFS then export such ZFS pool and then import it into FreeBSD. FreeBSD version of ZFS is more advanced but ZFS is backward compatible.




adr3nal1n said:


> 2) I currently use http://www.snapraid.it under Arch Linux to maintain a parity file (of the various XFS and ext4 disks) on a single hard disk (I am aware of ZFS in FreeBSD but am happy with snapraid and it's ability to work with independent disk volumes). Does a port or package exist for snapraid on FreeBSD? If not, is it difficult to compile one under FreeBSD from source? https://github.com/amadvance/snapraid/releases/download/v11.0/snapraid-11.0.tar.gz
> https://github.com/amadvance/snapraid/releases/download/v11.0/snapraid-11.0.tar.gz
> Thanks very much for any help and advice.


I have to repeat my  questions. Why? What problem are you trying to solve which requires you to run FreeBSD? If you like SnapRAID why don't you stick with Arch. FreeBSD softraid is all but barely usable in production comparing to Linux softraid (It doesn't support RAID 6 and I am not sure it supports RAID 10). FreeBSD people either use ZFS or Hardware RAID.


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## abishai (May 12, 2017)

Oko said:


> Why?


And why not? Actually, I migrated from Arch linux as well. It was too complex for me. I got tired tinkering the system and not using it, eventually.



adr3nal1n said:


> Is it possible to mount the XFS disks in FreeBSD (read-only would be fine)


Yes, FreeBSD supports XFS in r/w mode with the help of sysutils/xfsprogs



adr3nal1n said:


> Does a port or package exist for snapraid on FreeBSD?


No, and I suspect it would be difficult to adapt it for FreeBSD.


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## adr3nal1n (May 12, 2017)

abishai said:


> And why not? Actually, I migrated from Arch linux as well. It was too complex for me. I got tired tinkering the system and not using it, eventually.
> 
> 
> Yes, FreeBSD supports XFS in r/w mode with the help of sysutils/xfsprogs
> ...



Thanks for the feedback and confirmation around xfs mounting,

I like arch Linux and have been using it for years. I did prefer it when the majority of its config was done through a single rc.conf file, but I am used to systemd and have no issue with it.

I am interested in FreeBSD as it appears to be nice and tidy keeping the OS separate from the user installed apps. Have done some test installs in virtualbox a while back and got it all working with minimal fuss using the well written handbook. It has all the apps I use in arch with the exception of snapraid, so I guess if I make the switch to FreeBSD I will likely use ZFS. Again, I have tested ZFS using some virtualbox hdds to create a pool and the process was straightforward.

Thanks again, always interested in other people's experiences and opinions on this stuff.


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## ShelLuser (May 13, 2017)

Most questions have already been answered, but I figured I'd still respond...



adr3nal1n said:


> I am considering switching from Arch Linux to FreeBSD and have the following queries I am hoping someone can help me with:


First of all I'd like to say that I do agree with Oko up there...  In my opinion a switch to FreeBSD can definitely give you some solid advantages but the main Unix mindset is still an important one to keep in mind: If things aren't broken, why fix them?



adr3nal1n said:


> 2) I currently use http://www.snapraid.it under Arch Linux to maintain a parity file (of the various XFS and ext4 disks) on a single hard disk (I am aware of ZFS in FreeBSD but am happy with snapraid and it's ability to work with independent disk volumes).


I know this sounds clichéd but: When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

There's nothing wrong with taking some learned skills and habits which you picked up from Linux with you and use those while working with FreeBSD but always be careful that you don't treat FreeBSD as if it was merely another Linux. That mindset is most definitely going to cause trouble for you in the longer run.

FreeBSD isn't Linux. Not even remotely. Sure, both can be qualified as Unix-like operating systems, but you'll notice that FreeBSD's underlying model is way different. So basically things which may have worked perfectly for you when messing around with Linux may not be the best ideas while working with FreeBSD. Even though they might seem that way. After all: it's all the same kind of Unix-like environment, right?  Well.... no 

Take snapraid...  Depending on your choice of filesystem there already exist plenty of solid (native) backup options for both ZFS as well as UFS. When I go over that website of snapraid then I can't help notice that most of its key features are supported by merely every known backup solution out there.

Also keep in mind that it targets media centers aka environments which contain many files which hardly change. That's usually why you set up incremental backups. I'm pretty sure dump and restore, maybe together with md5 can sort all of this out.

Anyway, that's not really the point I'm going for here. Main point being that you need to be careful with trying to take all our "Linux habits" with you when working with FreeBSD. There are plenty of things which work differently in FreeBSD and therefor also require a completely different approach to gain the best results.

Other than that... I wish you all the best, hope things work out for you!


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