The best choice of linux file system and software that can be accesed from Windows
I am curently having ubuntu and win 7 dual boot and I want to delete my windows 7 and format all my partitions to use a linux file system. But I want to leave a door open in case I have any problems with linux, to be able to acces my linux file system with windows. I know that there are programs that can give you read-write acces to a ext2/3/4 FS (I tested none). I need advice in choosing the right FS, what are the diferences between ext 2/3/4 and what is the best software to do that.
3 Answers 3
Because no single file system is the best in all situations, determining which file system is the best for your application is not always easy. However, as you will see for yourself, picking the right file system can offer performance gains in excess of 95%.
Linux File Systems. Why so many?
There are three main reasons why there are so many File Systems on Linux:
* It's open source: effectively everyone owns it. * File Systems competing for better performance and or scalability. * File Systems allowing for compatibility/portability of existing data (migrations from other systems). File System Comparison
The following list describes the Linux file system characteristics and indicates when this file system is best used. This list is not exhaustive of all the file systems available in the world, but focuses on those which have appreciable market share or attention in the market today. A detailed comparison of file system features can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_file_systems
* Recommended to move to EXT3 * Not Journaled * POSIX access control EXT2 file system is the predecessor to the EXT3 file system. EXT2 is not journaled, and hence is not recommended any longer (customers should move to EXT3).
Recommended Use: USB/Solid State Drives, or any cause where you need high stability with minimal reads/writes.
* Most popular Linux file system, limited scalability in size and number of files * Journaled * POSIX extended access control EXT3 file system is a journaled file system that has the greatest use in Linux today. It is the «Linux» File system. It is quite robust and quick, although it does not scale well to large volumes nor a great number of files. Recently a scalability feature was added called htrees, which significantly improved EXT3’s scalability. However it is still not as scalable as some of the other file systems listed even with htrees. It scales similar to NTFS with htrees. Without htrees, EXT3 does not handle more than about 5,000 files in a directory.
Recommended Use: If you have no specific reason for another filesystem, ext3 is an excellent default.
The most recent in the ext filesystem line, ext4 includes many major improvements over ext3 like larger filesystem support, faster checking, nanosecond timestamps, and verification of the journal through checksums. It’s backward and forward compatible with versions 2 and 3, so you can mount a ext2 or ext3 filesystem as ext4, and the other way around. You may however lose some of the benefits of the newer versions when mounting as the older. Many of the modern Linux distributions now offer ext4 during the install, and some are using it as the default.
Recommended Use: Ext4 should be stable enough for desktop and server needs. If your distribution offers it as an install choice, it should be a good choice for nearly any usage needs.
* Most limited file system, but most ubiquitous * Not Journaled * No access controls FAT32 is the crudest of the file systems listed. It’s popularity is with its widespread use and popularity in the Windows desktop world and that it has made its way into being the file system in flash RAM devices (digital cameras, USB memory sticks, etc.). It has no built in security access control, so is small and works well in these portable and embedded applications. It scales the least of the file systems listed. Most systems have FAT32 compatibility support due to its ubiquity.
* The Windows file system, best for workgroup shared LAN file serving * Journaled * Windows access controls (richer than POSIX) The Microsoft Windows file system for the Windows NT kernel (Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows 2003). The Linux OpenSource version of this filesystem is only capable of read-only of existing NTFS data. This allows for migration from Windows and access to Windows disks. NTFS includes an ACL model which is not POSIX. The NTFS ACL model is unique to Microsoft, but is a derivative of the Novell NetWare 2.x ACL model. NTFS is the default (and virtually only option) on Windows servers. It includes rich metadata and attribute features. NTFS also supports multiple data streams and ACL rights inheritance since its Windows 2000 implementation. In Windows 2003 R2, Microsoft included a feature called «Access Based Enumeration». This is similar to visibility in NSS and NWFS, but is not implemented in the file system layer, but rather as a feature of the CIFS protocol engine in Windows 2003 R2, so this feature is only available when accessing Windows 2003 via the CIFS protocol.
* Best performance and scalability when number of files is great and/or files are small * Journaled * POSIX extended access controls The Reiser File System is the default file system in SUSE Linux distributions. Reiser FS was designed to remove the scalability and performance limitations that exist in EXT2 and EXT3 file systems. It scales and performs extremely well on Linux, outscaling EXT3 with htrees. In addition, Reiser was designed to very efficiently use disk space. As a result, it is the best file system on Linux where there are a great number of small files in the file system. As collaboration (email) and many web serving applications have lots of small files, Reiser is best suited for these types of workloads.
Recommended Use: Interacting with small files on a single core system.
Which file system is best for Ubuntu
File systems are used for data management in permanent storage devices such as Hard disks and SSDs. They are responsible for making decisions for all kinds of files, starting from where they will be accessed to how to manage them properly.
If it hasn’t been much time since you started using Ubuntu, the default file system shouldn’t be causing any problems for you. However, if you’re an advanced user, you may be looking for specific features that are otherwise not available in your file system.
Knowing what your file system does and how it manages to do it can help your system work at optimum performance, depending on what you’re looking for. For this purpose, we’ve written this guide so you can decide which file system is the best for you. All in all, the correct choice just depends on which specific features you’re looking for. Your needs define the file system you should go for.
For this guide, we’ll be referring to file systems for Ubuntu 20.04 LTS; however, there shouldn’t be any compatibility problems for previous versions. With that out of the way, let’s begin!
Understanding some basic terms
When talking about files and file systems, you’ll hear many technical terms get tossed around, such as fragmentation, volumes, etc. Knowing what these terms mean will help you make a better choice for what file system you should be used for Ubuntu.
Here is a list of common terms used when talking about file systems.
Fragmentation refers to the breaking down of a large chunk of the memory block (e.g., a file), which is then scattered across the permanent storage device. This is an inefficient way of storing data, as retrieving these “chunks” of memory is slow when the file is executed again. File systems are often designed to reduce fragmentation.
Volumes refer to specific areas in permanent storage where data is stored. You can make multiple volumes in a single storage device. For example, four volumes of 250 Gigabytes each form a single 1 Terabyte Hard drive.
Journaling is a method used by file systems to keep “logs” on whether a file has successfully been read/written on a permanent storage device. This helps in preventing the corruption of data as the journal keeps tabs on whether the process of reading/writing occurred successfully or not.
Drive pooling refers to grouping two or more drives to create a memory pool. These pools can be used to create virtual drives.
A thread is defined as a sequential flow that controls the process of an application. The CPU and operating system give these threads a processing time. They are executed in an almost parallel manner for a smooth operation of an application.
Snapshot is the process of recording the memory state at its point of capture. It is used to protect data and improve overall efficiency.
Now that we’ve covered some basic terms related to file systems, we can move on to learning about some of the best file systems that Ubuntu has to offer.
This is the default file system for Ubuntu. If you’re just a regular user looking to use Ubuntu like any other operating system, this file system is for you. The Extended file system 4, or Ext4 for short, is the most recent file system in the Ext series.
Ext4 comes with major improvements and upgrades when compared to the likes of its predecessors. It offers improvements in the areas of defragmentation, ability to incorporate bigger volumes and files. Ext4 also offers backward compatibility for Ext3 and Ext2 file systems.
The advantage of Ext4 over other systems is its excellent reading ability and load time over the other systems. However, it does not have advanced features like transparent compression and is relatively slower in writing files.
You can learn more about the Ext4 file system by clicking here.
BtrFS, otherwise known as “B-tree File System”, is considered to be a better solution for an adaptable file system in the long run. This is because the features it provides overwhelm those of Ext4 by a long shot.
It has features like drive pooling, defragmentation using online networks, and enhanced snapshot capability (perhaps the best feature of BtrFS).
BtrFS is superior when it comes to reading and writing large files and databases. It also supports larger drive space than Ext4, which is why most enterprises prefer this system.
Although BtrFS is somewhat unstable compared to the other file systems out there, improvements and updates could make it the default choice for every Linux distribution in the near future.
Click here to find out more about this file system.
If you’re looking for an alternative for Ext4 without compromising on stability, ReiserFS is the file system for you. It provides features that weren’t available in the previous version of Ext. The only drawback of using this file system is that its developers and the Linux community are no longer available due to controversial reasons, so don’t expect any major updates from this file system.
It has a reliable storage management system as compared to outdated systems like XFS.
You can learn more about ReiserFS by clicking here.
Silicon Graphics created XFS for their company’s operating system. The file system was ported to Linux back in 2001. XFS is eerily similar to Ext4. Features like decreased fragmentation and delayed allocation are common between XFS and Ext4.
When it comes to dealing with smaller files, however, XFS isn’t the best option out there. Nevertheless, XFS makes up for its flaws by providing the best support for larger files when compared with its competitors. XFS also supports features for SSDs.
If you’d like to learn more about XFS, click here.
ZFS (or, in the case of Ubuntu, OpenZFS) is one of the best file systems out there. For Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, OpenZFS is available by default. So, you can avoid the process of installation and directly proceed to load the file system.
Developed by Sun Microsystems, ZFS is a little different from other file systems because it is a file system integrated with a volume manager. ZFS provides many advanced features similar to BtrFS, for example, good volume management, drive pooling, snapshots, etc. ZFS is the default file system used by Ubuntu for managing containers.
It also has the advanced Raid-Z feature that distributes data more reliably and is best for recovering from a disk failure. This feature is not available on ZFS,Ext4, BtrFS, or Reiser.
Click here for more information about this file system.
Which file system is best for you?
Now that we’ve talked about the filesystems available for Ubuntu, we’re led to ask the question, “What file system should you use?”. In all honesty, it depends on user preference. Generally, the default Ext4 should get the job done for most users. However, if you’re looking to use more advanced features, you can choose any other file system specific to your needs.
Conclusion
We hope this guide helped you learn about some of the best file systems that are available for Ubuntu. We also hope that our explanation of the types was informative enough for you to make a sound decision as to which file system best suits your needs.