external drive file system

What is the best choice for a file system on a USB hard disk used exclusively for data backups?

Here are my criteria:

• Low overhead
• Low defragmentation
• Reliable, although journaling is optional (?)
• Compatable with most operating systems
  

I'm thinking ext2 but I'm not sure. I'm not too worried about Windows support but it could be handy in an emergency.

Thanks!

 

Ext2 could be a good choice. Windows can also fully support ext2. Look here.

 

For data backups, the best one will probably be ext3. Ext3 is better than ext2, but it does tend to be slow.

XFS and JFS are also good alternatives.

 

Why is ext3 better? Would I need journaling?

I like XFS but it is less compatable than ext2 or ext3.

 

Sorry, I forgot that you weren't bothered by journalling.

ext2 is ok, but I prefer JFS.

 

ext2 it is. So far it works nicely. File transfers are quick and when I switch it from USB2 to firewire, it should be even better. The only thing I didn't like is that the file system takes up 5.2% of the partition. I have 4 partitions from 30GB to 60GB and all showed 5.2% usage before I started transfering files. That seems really large to me, especially with no journaling features.