A robust file system for 6.2

Hi,

Yesterday, my red hat 6.2 box expirienced a blackout, after which, the var file system ( used by qmail and hylafax) was badly broken ,
though in the fs tab it is described as synced:

/dev/hda1       /var    ext2    defaults,sync   1       2

which, as I was told, should make it more robust,

the fsck /dev/hda1 did not solve the problem , don't remember the exact error, but it was somethin about "short read". I tar-ed what was left, reformated 
/dev/hda1 and restored from the tar file - with success.
Now I am looking for something more robust. I do not want speed , the average load is low, but I want it to be strong.

I wonder should I try a journaling file systems? Are they more robust? Which one should I use?
What is needed in order to use it on a RH6.2 system - shall I have to make a new kernel...? 

I want to stick to the 2.2 kernels , and if I can utilize a kernel provided by Red Hat will be best for me .


Thank you very much.
sasun.