Also how do I know if Im using a journaling file system? Im running coinlinux (debian from a USB stick). Im guessing a journaling file system is more tolerant of random restarts?
Yes, it's more tolerant and especially it restarts much faster in such a situation as power failure or hardware reset.
I don't personally know coinlinus, but just type "mount" in a terminal window. If you see "ext2" in the line that has the lone slash, you're not using a journaling file system. If you see "ext3" or "ext4", you are on a journaling system. In most modern Linux setups the latter is the default, so your chances are pretty good.
(If you see neither of the three, post here again with the full output from "mount"; a few Linuxes use other filesystems than those from the standard "ext" series).