Filesystem trouble on Linux

I encountered a problem with Oracle 8.1.7 on SuSE 7.1 Linux (Kernel 2.2.18). The OS and database run on a HP LH 3000 with a RAID controller. Oracles tablespaces are placed on a 50 GB volume, which is made up of 10 Hard disks, configured as RAID 1-0. I am using the ext2 - filesystem.

Now listen what happened: Before an announced power outage, the operator initiated a normal shutdown of the database. However, there were still some sessions online and the database didn't shutdown. The operator became nervous and decided to simply unplug the computer in order shutdown the damn thing. Congratulations!

However, I would have expected, that this would still cause no problems, because Oracle knows how to deal with idiots, like the one, that simply unplugged the computer while it was running. But Oracle wasn't able to start up. It claimed, that several tablespaces are in need of a recovery. When I checked, that the tablespace-files were still there, I realized, that there size was decreased! One file had 30 MB instead of 1 GB, another one had 500 MB instead of 1 GB.

As I already said, I would not have expected such problems: I know, that ext2fs could loose information in cases of power outage, but the concerned files were of fixed size!

Now the questions:
Can anybody recommend another filesystem to use on the HP server Raid - System ? Are there any experiences (good are bad) with journaled filesystems ? I personally would prefer Reiser FS, but I'd like to hear your opinions and / or experiences.

• Markus