The new Ext4 filesystem

FIT FOR THE FUTURE

Article from Issue 79/2007

Author(s): MARCEL HILZINGER

The newest child in the Ext filesystem family provides better performance and supports bigger filesystems. Are you ready for Ext4?

Linux came of age with the introduction of the Ext2 filesystem, and Ext3 was the first journaling filesystem to make it into the kernel. Through the years, the Ext (Extended) filesystem family has held an important place in Linux, and Ext remains a popular choice for users around the world. But the venerable Ext code base is showing signs of age. Several months ago, developers began to discuss the problem of adding new features to Ext3 while maintaining the stability and compatibility of the code. Meanwhile, several initiatives offered enhancements to the filesystem that were too fundamental to integrate easily but too important to ignore.

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