The File-system dilemma

When formatted to Ext2
command $: mkfs.ext2 -L "" /dev/sdb1
Disk /dev/sdb: 2000.4 GB, 2000398933504 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0006ec2e

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1               1      243202  1953513472   83  Linux

When Formatted to Ext 4
It took painstaking 18 minutes

I personally prefer to use ext4 after reading this link.
Also ext reserves 5% disk space for root.

The reserved blocks are there for root's use. This allows the system to continue running if non-root users fill up the file system and also assists in preventing file fragmentation because the filesystem does not fill up completely.

So, in short, if the drive doesn't contain /var or /tmp, then there's not much point in having space reserved for root.
You can get that space back. By using tune2fs It is a good tool.

sudo tune2fs -r 0 /dev/sdX to disable it. /*Here we set the "-r=reserved-blocks-count" to zero */

Some forums prefer that minimum 1% is recommended. You can modify the percentage of reserved block percentage too using tune2fs.

sudo tune2fs -m 1 /dev/sdX to modift it. /* Here we modify (-m) "reserved-block-percentage" to 1% from the default 5% */

My earlier plan to format to Btrs was foolish at this point of time as it lacks tuning and debugging support. And gave a 100GB buffer space with the inferior FAT32 and 30 GB with NTFS so as to connect to my friend's computers using windows.

Further Read

• Migrating to Ext4
• Barriers and Journaling File Systems
• Discussions in forums
  

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Arjun S R
http://about.me/arjunsr