[OnePlus 7 Pro ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other D] Freak07:
mistakes happen yes. unfortunately I have no backup of this post available. Though all changes are still available on my github.

In case that wasn´t clear from my release post. It´s completely optional to use f2fs. Nothing is wrong with using ext4 on /data. If it´s too much hassle for anybody, nobody is forcing you to switch.

f2fs has a few advantages over ext4, because of it´s design and nothing will change that. There´s no discussion about performance possible, because f2fs already won regarding random performance particularly.

Random performance is what matters most on smartphones.

just compare the androbenches from the OP7Pro (UFS 3.0) XDA Review running EXT4:

to my Pixel 3 XL (still uses UFS 2.1):

to a OP7Pro using f2fs with UFS 3.0:

CAF for 4.14 devices supports encryption for both ext4 and f2fs by default, that´s why we can use f2fs even with stock kernel. No CAF kernel for previous devices did provide this functionality ever before. Arter had to do a lot of work to support f2fs with encryption working on the OP6/T.

I´m pretty sure everybody (Google, F2FS maintainer and OEMs) is working currently to make f2fs default.

It´s only a matter of time, until google enforces or wants to see f2fs as default. Android go devices already must use f2fs if I remember correctly.

Ext4 is a very mature, but also relatively old filesystem. F2FS had a bumpy road in the beginning, but it matured a lot the last two years. It matured that much, that Google decided to use it as default for the Pixel 3 devices.

I learned the OP3 used it and faced issues, but back then f2fs simply wasn´t ready and the decision to use it was questionable to say at least.

The biggest problem of f2fs, before the Pixel 3 launched, was filesystem performance degradation over time and filesystem integrity. The last one is fixed. Degredation over time is also mostly solved in the most recent f2fs stable commits, because of some GC improvements, which are still not perfectly ideal for mobile devices.

The GC problem is completely solved in this kernel by arters rapid GC. I tried this already on my Pixel 3 and it works better than upstream f2fs.

F2FS on the Pixel 3 was and is perfectly usable as it is.

See also the anandtech review (scroll to the bottom) for a bit more insight on the switch to f2fs on the Pixel 3 devices: https://www.anandtech.com/show/13474/the-google-pixel-3-review/2

The Asus Zenfone 6 ,which uses UFS 2.1, utilizes f2fs for /data by default, and has much faster random write speeds than the OP7 Pro on default EXT4, even with an inferior UFS chip similarly to the Pixel 3, but still faster due to the CPU.

I know I can play with the mount options of ext4/f2fs and disable important security mechanisms to achieve higher performance on any ext4 filesystem, but I´m absolutely not interested in this. It´s pointless just like disabling fsync and will lead to data loss and/or corruption.

Everybody has to decide for themselves, if they want to make the switch. If you don´t care about it and want to use the default that just works without any hassle stay on EXT4. You probably won´t notice a "huge" difference in real world usage by using f2fs.

I noticed apps are installing way faster with f2fs though. My google backup restoring, when setting up the device was done a lot quicker. That´s the one thing I can say for sure.

I´m not claiming your device will get 2000% faster after using f2fs. everybody has to try him/herself.

Have a nice day everybody! :)