this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2024
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Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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I want to learn more about file systems from the practical point of view so I know what to expect, how to approach them and what experience positive or negative you had / have.

I found this wikipedia's comparison but I want your hands-on views.

For now my mental list is

  • NTFS - for some reason TVs on USB love these and also Windows + Linux can read and write this
  • Ext4 - solid fs with journaling but Linux specific
  • Btrfs - some modern fs with snapshot capability, Linux specific
  • xfs - servers really like these as they are performant, Linux specific
  • FAT32 - limited but recognizable everywhere
  • exFAT - like FAT32 but less recognizable and less limited
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[–] Shimitar@feddit.it 6 points 10 months ago

Ext4 on every Linux device.

Ah i dont have any other kind of devices (android on mobile, but there I have no choices on fs)

Why not btrfs? Don't know, been using what has kept working flawlessly for me for the last 20+ years, no need to replace ext4.

[–] soundconjurer@mstdn.social 6 points 10 months ago

@Psyhackological
Work stations all run Ext4.
Main server: Ext4 on main partition, ZFS RAIDZ2 on the data.
Secondary server: BTRFS on main, BTRFS RAID1 on data.

If BTRFS could natively encrypt and had stable RAID6, I'd be using it probably on everything.

[–] KindaABigDyl@programming.dev 5 points 10 months ago

Ext4 bc of its speed for games and my main files. Btrfs on the root for compression

[–] doubletwist@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

XFS on my server VMs and my laptops and desktops.

ZFS on my file server. I'd use it on my laptops and desktops too (and have done when I was using Xubuntu) but I've switched toFedora which doesn't come with a way to easily install with ZFS and I don't feel like jumping through hoops to get it done. And I can't stand btrfs. I don't know what it is about it, but I just don't like it.

[–] ghjones@beehaw.org 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

A combination of XFS and ZFS. I work in high performance computing (academic). While I love the reliability of ZFS for data archival and peace of mind that results provably haven’t suffered bitrot, sometimes I just need a 10 TB temp file(s) with fast mostly-sequential R/W. Appropriate selection of file systems lets me have both.

[–] ghjones@beehaw.org 4 points 10 months ago

As an aside, I’ve been watching bcachefs with some interest, as it seems to be getting faster with every kernel release, building on the data integrity guarantees of ZFS while pushing performance boundaries and being GPL compatible (i.e. in tree). Kent Overstreet et al. have done a fantastic job with this FS.

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

Defaults

So Btrfs, ZFS and ext4 (ext4 is virtual only)

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[–] seaQueue@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Btrfs, ZFS and ext4. My servers use ZFS, my client machines mostly use btrfs and I have a sprinkling of ext4 partitions for specific workloads. I'm all in on CoW filesystems for snapshots, send receive, transparent compression and reflinks. I like btrfs on client machines and SBCs because it's easily available (baked into the kernel) and doesn't require maintaining dkms or holding kernel versions until ZFS supports them and because snapshot handling and other filesystem admin tasks are simple and straightforward. I run ZFS wherever data integrity is important, eg: storage servers and backup targets, but largely prefer working with btrfs.

[–] VinesNFluff@pawb.social 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

Btrfs main boot drive

Xfs main storage drive

exFAT external "archive" drive (easy to connect to Windows machines if ever I need my backup in someone else's windows machine in an emergency and such)

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[–] Verat@sh.itjust.works 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (6 children)

I use bcachefs for my games, I like that it lets me have multiple disks with redundant data copies, plus ssd caching of frequently accessed files, this fs is linux specific for now as far as I know, and is still experimental. I use ext4 for everything else, and FAT32 for flash drives.

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[–] n2burns@lemmy.ca 4 points 10 months ago

It's all Ext4, but I run SnapRAID on top of that on my data drives. I'm sure lots of people would tell me I should use ZFS/BTRFS instead, but I'm used to SnapRAID, and I like the idea if something goes wrong, I won't lose all my data.

[–] drwho@beehaw.org 3 points 10 months ago

Servers - btrfs. Fewer layers of abstraction, easier to manipulate.

Laptops - ext4. I don't do anything weird with the onboard storage, plus it supports fscrypt.

Flash drives - exFAT. I usually need to access them on multiple platforms and exFAT is about as cross-platform as VFAT (but supports bigger files).

[–] lnxtx 3 points 10 months ago

Depends. Slower desktop machines XFS.
Standard desktop XFS, if it has a smaller SSD, Btrfs.
Home server ext4/XFS + ZFS. Generic servers at work ext4/XFS, backup/storage servers ZFS.
Database server, experiment with ZFS with compression enabled - ratio 2:1, but encountered problems (probably a bad HBA model), standard ext4/XFS.
Hosts with virtualization, small server - XFS, big server - ZFS (technically a ZVOL).

[–] CatLikeLemming@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Btrfs because it sounded cool when I first read about it and worked fine so far :3

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[–] Takios@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 10 months ago (2 children)

We use btrfs for the / partition and xfs for any data partitions. Has served us well, the snapshot feature saves us some valuable time when an update goes awry.

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[–] greywolf0x1@lemmy.ml 3 points 10 months ago

dual boot NixOS and FreeBSD on a single drive, ext4 on Nix and ZFS on FreeBSD. each partition has its own boot, swap and root, all encrypted

btw, OP wrote that FAT32 is limited, isn't it the default fs for the boot partition? can other fs like ext2/3 be used?

[–] CalcProgrammer1@lemmy.ml 3 points 10 months ago

Pretty much all ext4 except for a few Windows installs on NTFS.

[–] eager_eagle@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago (4 children)

F2FS, because solid state and speed

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[–] shotgun_crab@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

Btrfs for the compression and snapshots

[–] PoopMonster@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Whatever my installation CD had as default 😂. I'm guessing ext4?

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