I run multiple ARM boards with Debian Linux installed. Board is equipped with 512 MB of NAND memory. I've observed that after ~3 months of continuous run booting time increased significantly - it takes over 3 minutes to mount filesystem (JFFS2).

System was using about 35% of available storage so I’ve removed unnecessary files (got to ~18%) but this didn't change anything.

Then I realized that my software produces directories that are left empty so I’ve removed ~500 empty and unnecessary dirs. This didn’t help either.

After system is started I see JFFS2 garbage collector (jffs2_gcd_mtd4) running and occupying over 90% of CPU.

Now my question: is there a way to „optimize” JFFS2 filesystem for better performance - faster booting (my system have limited timid to boot up)? It would be great if this optimization could be done remotely - I have no physical access to boards.