Which file system is most suitable for your Linux system?

Which file system is most suitable for your Linux system?

File Systems: they are not the most exciting technology in the world, but are still important. In this article, we will detail the popular Linux File Systems-what they are, what they can do, and their target users.

 

Ext4

File-systems-ext4

If you have installed Linux, you may have seen "Ext4" during the installation process. There is a good reason to use it: it is the file system selected for each available Linux release. Of course, there are other options, but it is undeniable that Ext4 (Extended 4) is a file system that almost all Linux users choose.

 

What can it do?

Ext4 has all the advantages you expected in the previous File System (Ext2/Ext3), and also brings some improvements. There is also a lot of content to explore, which lists the best part that Ext4 brings to you:

• Log File System
• Log Verification
• Multi-block File Allocation
• Backward compatible with Ext2 & Ext3
• Continuous Free Space pre-allocation
• Improved file system verification (compared with previous versions)
• Of course, support for larger files at the same time

 

Target User

Ext4 targets users looking for super reliable basic environments or users who only need to be able to work. This file system does not take snapshots of your system; it does not even have the best SSD support, but if you are not too picky, you will think it is also good.

 

BtrFS

File-systems-btrFS

B-tree File System (also considered as butterFS, butterFS) is a file system developed by Oracle for Linux. It is a brand new file system and is in the main development stage. The Linux community believes that its use is sometimes unstable. The core principles of BtrFS are centered on the copy-on-write principle. Replication at write time basically means that each bit of the data has a separate copy before the data is written. After the data is written, it is equivalent to a copy.

 

What can it do?

In addition to supporting write-time replication, BtrFS is also competent for many other transactions-in fact, it can continually list various features. The following lists the most notable features: Read-only snapshots, file cloning, sub-volumes, transparent compression, offline file system verification, in-situ conversion from ext3 & 4 to BtrFS, and online fragment, RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 6, and RAID 10 are also supported.

 

Target User

BtrFS developers promised that the file system is a new generation of replacement for other file systems. Very correct, although it is currently under development. It has many killer features for advanced users, as well as for basic users (including better performance on SSD ). This file system is intended for users who want to get more (features) from the file system, and who want to try to make things with a copy-on-write machine.

 

XFS

File-systems-xfs

Developed by Silicon Graphics, XFS is a high-end file system targeting speed and performance. Being focused on performance makes XFS particularly outstanding in parallel I/O. The XFS file system can process a large amount of data. In fact, some XFS users have nearly 300 TB of data.

 

What can it do?

XFS is a data storage file system that has been well tested. It was born for high-performance operations. Its features include:

• Strip distribution of RAID Arrays
• Log File System
• Variable Block Size
• Direct I/O
• Specified rate (guaranteed-rate) I/O
• Snapshots
• Online Fragment
• Online file system size adjustment

 

Target User

XFS targets users who want a rock-solid file system solution. It began in 1993 and has become better and better over time. If you have a home server and you are worried about how to deploy the storage environment, consider XFS. It has many features (such as snapshots) that can help your file storage system. However, it is not limited to servers. If you are a relatively advanced user or you are interested in BtrFS, try XFS. It implements many features similar to BtrFS and has no stability issues.

 

Reiser4

File-system-riser4

Reiser4 is the successor of ReiserFS, created by Namesys. Its birth can be traced back to the Linspire project and DARPA. The difference lies in the large number of transaction models. It does not end with a single way of writing data. Instead, there are many ways to write data ).

 

What can it do?

Reiser4 has the unique capability to use multiple transaction modes. It can use the write-time replication mode (such as BtrFS), write-anywhere, log, and hybrid transaction mode. It has made many improvements based on ReiserFS, including better file system logs based on roaming logs, better support for small files, and faster directory processing. Reiser4 provides many features. More features can be discussed, but in simple terms, compared with ReiserFS, it not only makes great improvements, but also adds many features.

 

Target User

Resier4 is suitable for users who want to apply a file system to multiple scenarios. You may want to use the write-time replication mechanism on one machine, use any write mechanism on the other machine, and use hybrid transactions on the other machine, but you don't want to use a variety of different types of file systems to complete this task. Reiser4 is the perfect solution for this situation.

 

Conclusion

Linux has many available file systems. Each file system has a specific purpose for specific users to solve different problems. This article focuses on mainstream selection of file systems on the Linux platform. There are undoubtedly some other options in other scenarios.

What is your favorite File System on Linux? Let us know in the comment area below!

Via: https://www.maketecheasier.com/best-file-system-linux/

Author: Derrik Diener Translator: iceco1_proofreader: wxy

This article was originally compiled by LCTT and launched with the honor of Linux in China

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