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
  • tired_n_bored
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    25 months ago
    • Ext4 main computer
    • NTFS for hard drives and stuff that need to be shared with other people using Windows
    • BTRFS for the NAS
    • PsyhackologicalOP
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      fedilink
      15 months ago

      Interesting choice for NAS, why not the others that seem like better alternatives?

      • tired_n_bored
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        25 months ago

        Well, as far as I know, BTRFS and ZFS are the recommended file systems for NAS’s. They have self-healing capabilities so I can be slightly more sure that my data does not get corrupted over time.

        • PsyhackologicalOP
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          fedilink
          25 months ago

          Is self-healing process automated or you need to somehow enable it so it happens from time to time?

          • tired_n_bored
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            25 months ago

            You have to run a so-called scrub command that checks for errors and tries to repair them. You can automate to run it every month or so