All about F2F/F2Fs

atulsingh

So, someone is fed up of the F2Fs drama going on and landed here. Well, I'll try not to disappoint you. Just have some patience and read carefully.

What is it and why should I care for it ?

First things first - F2F stands for flash-friendly filesystem. F2F & F2Fs are filesystems just like EXT4.

The storage is the same just change in filesystem is enough to bring serious improvements to real-world performance in the form of slightly-faster opening speeds for everyday apps, and dramatic improvements to loading heavy games such as Asphalt 8, PUBG.

EXT4 is the standard for linux filesystems, whereas F2Fs was built by Samsung for smartphones and similar devices, and is theoretically faster, but apparently isn't that much faster. It really is a maze of information and opinions when you look into this.

Filesystems are how the OS decides where to store data and how to retrieve it.

Since flash memory operates in a different different optimal ways to store data. EXT4 was designed to optimize for magnetic hard drives, while F2Fs is optimized for flash memory.

The basic idea and pro of F2Fs is that because it is designed from the ground up for

flash-based media, it will perform better and leave less wear on the device.

F2Fs is new, only a few manufacturers ship with it. Give it some more time and it will likely to become the go-to filesystem for all flash-based memories.

You'll be more likely to gain longevity than performance but it has historically had reliability issues.

As Google uses F2Fs itself, I would expect they think it's matured enough to get the kinks worked out. So, I don't see any harm in trying out the new stuff on your whyred given that you follow all the steps correctly.

And iirc, the original creator of F2Fs has left Samsung and now works at Google, which may play into this a bit.

Is it better than my existing filesystem and should I use it ?

Off-course F2Fs is better than ext4 and if you don't have any idea and you just want to do it because everyone is doing it, plox stop. Because the difference to ext4 is totally unnoticeable in day to day use, unless you know specific ways to exploit it.

But someone is pro unlike me ;_; who has decided and wants to use F2Fs filesystem please go on and read the next section carefully.

How do I do it on my whyred correctly ?

Join https://t.me/whyredf2fs and all the steps are there on the group notes.

But someone might be lazy like me ;_; so I'll just copy-paste all the steps here for him.

Most important step, applies to both guides below.

First of all, do backup everything because your internal storage will be wiped during the process.

Now to begin with it, you'll need a recovery that supports F2Fs filesystem. Just flash Mihran's twrp. Link : https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=11410963190603904401

#GUIDE FOR ROMS WHICH SUPPORT F2FS:

STEP 1. Wipe /Data (including internal storage) and /Cache

STEP 2. Change file system of both /data and /cache as f2fs

STEP 3. Flash the ROM and GApps Package

STEP 4. Make sure that the pre-built kernel have f2fs support, else flash kernel with f2fs support before booting. (just flash Derp-4.5 to be on safer side)

Also make sure that rom have fstab entries or it is f2fs supported (in simple words)

STEP 5. Reboot and setup. Flash magisk only after booting into system once.

PS: If you get /data as 16gb, change it to ext4 again, wipe and change again to f2fs and the issue should be fixed.

#GUIDE FOR ROMS WHICH DONT SUPPORT F2FS AS OF NOW:

STEP 1. Boot into twrp

STEP 2. Format+wipe everything (including internal)

STEP 3. Reboot to recovery

STEP 4. Convert data to f2fs

STEP 5. Flash ROM+GApps+Derp 4.5+f2fs_fstab_data.zip(in same order)

(f2fs_fstab_data.zip : https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=11410963190603912459)

STEP 6. Boot into system and setup the device

STEP 7. Again Reboot to recovery

STEP 8. Convert cache to f2fs

STEP 9. Flash f2fs_fstab_cache.zip

(f2fs_fstab_cache.zip : https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=11410963190603912461)

FINALLY : Reboot to system and enjoy.

If you want to dig deeper, you can head to the following XDA-Threads:

At this point, let me say: Congratulations! and thank you for reading. If you got this far without giving up, please consider a CompSci-related major at university, if you have that opportunity.