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Linux File System Overview

"On a UNIX system, everything is a file; if something is not a file, it is a process."

The following is a list of native Linux file systems. Linux can boot off of some of these partitions and use them as Root.

Linux filesystem types:

• ext
• ext2
• ext3
• ext4
• hpfs
• iso9660
• JFS
• minix
• msdos
• ncpfs
• nfs
• ntfs
• proc
• Reiserfs
• smb
• sysv
• umsdos
• vfat
• XFS
• xiafs

Details

The proc filesystem is mounted on /proc, you can find in /proc/filesystems which filesystems your kernel currently supports. To use a filesystem, you have to mount it. Below is a short description of the available or historically available filesystems above, in the Linux kernel.

• ext - An elaborate extension of the minix filesystem. It has been superseded by the second version of the extended filesystem (ext2) and removed from the kernel (in 2.1.21).

• ext2 - A high performance disk filesystem used by Linux for fixed disks as well as removable media. This second extended filesystem was designed as an extension of the filesystem (ext).

• ext3 - This is a journaling version of the ext2 filesystem. It is easy to switch back and forth between ext2 and ext3.

• ext4 - a set of upgrades to ext3 including substantial performance and reliability enhancements, plus large increases in volume, file, and directory size limits.

• hpfs -