File Systems

Idel Lawrence Aranilla

College of Computing and Information Technologies (CCIT)

Platform Technologies (CCPLTFRL)

National University-Manila

Engr. Lizel Rose Q. Natividad

09/24/2022
 Every computer needs data to process information as it is the essence

that stands behind its primary role of converting input into output. Once the data

undergoes treatment and coordination, they can come together to form a file,

which may appear in many formats—text being the most used and well-known,

followed by the file extension ".txt," like

"[Link]." Other data types can take

forms as images, audio, videos, and even Web pages. Any computer users, even

casual ones, know that the device has to contain these files in storage space, a

hardware disk, whether internally in the Hard Disk Drive (HDD) or Solid State

Drive (SSD) or externally through a flash drive colloquially termed "USB." While

the processing that puts the software into the hardware may leave one's thoughts

flying over his head trying to figure out how those plastic and metal chunks can

hold and delineate such values, the answer lies in another software called

the File System.

File Systems and Its Four Baseline Operations

All information in storage is managed and handled by the file system, from

naming to retrieval and indubitably storing. It allows the data to be in the free

space by virtually compartmentalizing the physical disk for storage. According to

Lavarian (2022), without a file system, the device will be a pile of data filed back

to back, without any distinction on how to tell them apart—acting like a real-life

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file organizer in an office. However, file systems provide roles deeper than the

general idea established because of developments over time. Modern file

systems have four baseline functions that are integral to the system's operation:

provision of a user interface (UI), creation of a hierarchical structure for the files,

storage of file metadata, and organization of the storage device space.

User Interface

Although the operating system (OS) is the one that essentially provides

the user interface of the computer, the file system is undeniably one of its most

visible features (O'Reilly, n.d.). The user has to have the UI to access the data

contained within the files, whether an application or a document, as it first has to

fetch a request before loading it in memory to be run by the central processing

unit (CPU). In a document file, the one loaded into memory is the application

associated with the document type, such as when the user accesses a text file

and the Notepad flashes on the screen for Microsoft OSs.

Hierarchical Structure

With the file system allocating the spaces on the storage device, it also

keeps a record of its location. It does this by integrating a format in determining

the paths to the files through an ordered tree structure—a hierarchy. Within the

operating system, the locations of the files and, when present, folders are in the

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directory. However, when computer development was still in its basic form

conducting only one computation at a time and with limited storage, a flat file

system was prevalent, which houses a unidimensional, flat directory. It has the

simplest structure that places all files in the same catalog (Files & File Systems:

Crash Course Computer Science #20, 2017). Inside the hierarchical structure

found in modern file systems, it can now contain files, folders, and other

directories. Located at the topmost is the root, which is the primary directory that

houses everything else in actuality—the starting point. It is also usually the local

disk where the OS and other program files are stored, known as the C drive in

Windows OSs represented by "C:" in the file explorer. As a sign of best practice,

files similar in nature, purpose, and usage are grouped in a well-defined folder

that reflects its contents. The same concept applies when grouping such folders

into a directory.

File Metadata

Furthermore, the file system provides access to metadata, which is the

descriptive, technical, and administrative information about the specificities of a

file. The universal thought about metadata is that it is data about data: file name;

date and time when the file was created, modified, and accessed; file size; and

access permission, among other properties related to the file type. It is generally

automatically generated when creating the file, albeit it can also be done and

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configured manually by the user for more accuracy. Because metadata stores

information about the file details, its properties can dynamically change based on

actions that can cause alterations in the file, such as by simply accessing or

transferring it to a different location. In essence, metadata is present and can

constantly vary as long as a file exists, which dictates its behavior and output

(Martin, 2020).

Storage Space Organization

However, formatting the disks must first be in place before letting such

data and files be stored and created. Organizing the storage space starts with

the manufacturers of the hard drive low-level formatting its disks to mark their

tracks and sectors. It is a prerequisite to allowing the logical division of the disks

into blocks called clusters—used to store the files and directories. Its size is

typically four kilobytes (KB), with values ranging between a minimum of 512

bytes and a maximum of 4 megabytes (MB). Writing the data on the clusters

involves a sequential process where the OS fills in one cluster before proceeding

to the next with the final cluster filled with ones (1s) to signify that writing the file

is complete—the linked-list file allocation method. These block allocations, or

allocation units in Windows systems, do it through either a File Allocation Table

(FAT) or a New File Technology System (NTFS). The former uses a fixed portion

of the disk to store the data, and the latter holds a Master File Table (MFT) in

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various locations on the disk that contains information for every file on the system.

Also available in Linux file systems, one can picture it as the database for the

contents of the file system that helps define its volume by keeping records of the

files, their locations in the directory and physical drive, as well as their metadata

(Gurkok, 2017).

A volume is the formatted partition of the disk used by the file system upon

being high-level formatted onto it (formatting) for the actual data storing. The disk

also provides a unique area for holding the information about it on the disk called

the disk label for UNIX/Linux OSs and the partition table for Windows and Mac

OSs. The partitioned device's first sector contains a specific boot sector called

the Master Boot Record (MBR), which has the master boot code responsible for

loading the OS. The code loads it by determining which partition to boot the

system, known as the active partition. The MBR also holds information on the

partitions' organization in the device through the partition table. It is along with

other information like the timestamp of the record's creation and the disk

signature that the OS uses to discern the storage devices available in the

computer (MiniTool, 2021; Fisher, 2021).

The late 90s entered the GUID Partitioning Table (GPT) partitioning

scheme into the market to tend to the limitations faced by MBR—which now have

become the standard. One such example comes with the partition table

maximum capacity. MBR can only use up to two terabytes (TB) of the drive, while

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GPT can use up to nine-point-seven zettabyte (ZB) or nine-point-seven billion TB

(Koishigawa, 2021). Often found in UEFI firmware, GPT is more reliable and

secured with its protocol of storing multiple copies of the partition data in various

areas of the disk and the Cyclic Redundancy Check (CDC) that validates the

data for unauthorized changes.

Windows allow two types of drive partitioning based on whether or not it

uses a partitioning scheme. A "basic disk" uses either of the two (MBR or GPT),

while a "dynamic disk" goes outside the convention and allows volume extension

on any free space in the drive. The OS also showed a time of development

acceleration during the 2000s with its storage space organization. From Windows

2000 going forward, Microsoft decided to incorporate partitioning the disk during

the OS installation—automatically creating one on the first hard disk—while

Windows XP saw the ability to use an NTFS volume as a passage to another.

Such developments consequentially also led to upgrades with the file systems

themselves, adding more functions for security, among other things.

Windows File Systems

Windows primarily support three file systems in its lineup: FAT, NTFS, and

the most recent addition, Resilient File System (ReFS). There were

supplementary file systems introduced in Windows 2000, albeit primarily used for

peripheral storage on DVD/CD-ROM drives: CD-ROM File System (CDFS) and

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Universal Disk Format (UDF). Modern Microsoft OSs still offer support for

multiple Windows file systems, despite some lagging in specific technological

values, especially the ones created at earlier dates, because each one still

manages to find its niche under appropriate IT conditions (Posey, 2020). The

FAT file system (1977) is one of the simplest out of the bunch, with its first

implementation dating back to the dawn of the PC OS pioneers like the Microsoft

Disk Operating System (MS-DOS) line. Its table (FAT) has "entries" for each

cluster size that makes the linked-list file allocation method possible—containing

the number of the next, marking the End-of-File (EOF), reserved spaces, and

bad unusable clusters. It has produced versions based on the number of bits

accompanied by improvements over time concerning cluster size: FAT12, FAT16,

FAT32, and exFAT (Keil, n.d.).

FAT16

Although simple, FAT16 (1984) proves its robustness and is widely used

today for formatting removable storage devices like flash drives. It replaced

FAT12 with a more efficient 16-bit cluster address for mapping 65,517 clusters

per volume, with each cluster size being 512 bytes and 32 MB of space. Its

predecessor only had a maximum cluster number of 4,078, roughly only one-

sixteenth its capacity. FAT16 also employs an 8.3 naming convention for its files

with an eight-character long string followed by a dot and the three-character file

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extension. It was generally a bigger and better file system than 12 that works on

hard disks with volumes as small as 16 MB up to four GB in later revisions

(Techopedia, 2016; Posey, 2020).

FAT32

Microsoft introduced FAT32 with the Windows 95 Release 2 (1996), which

provided further improvements from FAT16. Its most highlighted feature is the

increase it saw with the maximum volume size it can support to 16 TB in contrast

with 16's four GB. It uses a smaller cluster size than its predecessor, thus

allowing greater efficiency in handling disk space. However, most Windows OS

can only accommodate so much that the 16 TB volume size is hard to fill in yet—

previous OSs like XP and Vista set the peak volume at 32 GB, while more

current ones like Windows 10 can only extend support up to two TB. The storage

downside of FAT32 is the limit on four GB file sizes. It, however, lengthened the

file naming restriction of 16's eight characters by stretching it to 255 characters

(Posey, 2020). Although considered old, it is presently the most prevalent system

used for removable drives, allowing compatibility with any device with a USB port

(Hoffman & Duino, 2021).

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exFAT

The series' most advanced file system is exFAT (2006), colloquially

termed FAT64, albeit shied away by a lot in the tech community for being a

misnomer, for the remarkable improvements it showcases from FAT32 using 64-

bit length fields (Iwaya, 2016). It went beyond its predecessors' storing capacities,

making it virtually impossible to fill it in thoroughly (PCMag, n.d.). It upgraded to

outstretched potential volume support of 128 petabytes (PB) and file size of 16

exabytes (EB) or 128,000,000 GB and 16,000,000,000 GB, respectively.

Microsoft intended to make it a proprietary file system for shareable and movable

devices like a high-capacity USB drive. Similar to FAT32, it follows the trend of

cross-compatibility that works with the entire line of Windows and modern

macOS renditions, albeit it requires third-party software for Linux (Hoffman &

Duino, 2021).

NTFS

NTFS became the standard file system following its introduction with

Windows NT 3.1 in 1993 because of its entrenched security features that the

FAT line was missing. Its fortified dependability made NTFS a go-to standard for

Windows Servers and its succeeding desktop systems. It was Microsoft's first

journaling file system—keeping records of the file transactions that log every

change made in a structure that consequentially enables shadow copies

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(previous, deleted, or corrupted file versions) to be accessed or restored. NTFS

also replaced the FAT table with the Master File Table (MFT) that takes notes of

the file's record when created, which contains attributes for security, ownership,

and permissions, and also reflects the clusters utilized by the file on the disk. Its

improved file system security for local permissions landed it a C2 top-secret

standard recognition from the US government for data protection, system

auditing, and system access—in stark contrast with FAT32's shared permissions.

NTFS also incorporated system-level encryption through the Encrypting File

System (EFS) that symmetrically encrypts the contents it houses (Posey, 2020).

The file system's volume allows compressing itself or its contents (folders

and files) which is not an option provided by its predecessors, even with FAT32's

introduction in 1996 (Mesevage, 2019). In addition, the user can access a

volume as a folder within another instead of the typical drive letter format (C:)

through the volume mount points. It has maximum volume support of 256 TB and

a file size support of 16 TB in the early Windows NT version that can now

accommodate as large as eight PB or 8,000 TB for Windows 10. It can, however,

use its disk quotas feature that sets a space limit the user files can occupy. A

further primary selling point is its identity as a self-healing file system through its

background utility that automatically corrects disk problems. It consequentially

allows hot fixing of the data, a process that copies the data from one erroneous

disk area to another, thus saving the organization from costs brought by

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downtime. It does, however, prove to lag behind FAT36 with cross-compatibility,

as stated by Masevage (2019), e.g., the system can only be read and does not

allow writing in a macOS environment without third-party software.

ReFS

Windows Server 2012 came with a new file system intended to replace

NTFS with its more secure, available, and scalable features—ReFS (codenamed

Protogon). Although intended to be the next-generation file system from

Microsoft, it provided a sense of familiarity to users, having a framework based

on NTFS (Microsoft, 2017). Regardless of backward compatibility, it removed

and replaced some of its predecessors' prominent elements like file compression,

disk quotas, and EFS, albeit it contains Bitlocker encryption. Its integrated

environment with Storage Spaces allows the system to determine and repair data

corruptions by accessing the alternative copies stored by file-sharing applications

in volumes handled by Spaces. It is also known to have a more-advanced self-

healing feature enabled by the scrubber, which proactively searches for data

corruption for automatic fixing. Microsoft also instilled tools and functions, such

as salvage, for recovering files from completely damaged disks or isolating the

corruption of data, file, or volume to leave other data at risk alone (Posey, 2020;

Microsoft, 2017).

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 ReFS also allows workload optimization through its advanced capabilities,

like real-time tier optimization, which divides a drive volume into two logical

groups, known as tiers, for performance and capacity (Microsoft, 2020).

Additionally, it is the most capable Windows file system as well. The file system

has a maximum volume as large as a yottabyte (YB) and can extend to a

yobibyte (YiB), which equates to a trillion and 1.2 trillion TB, respectively. ReFS

can also accommodate file sizes as large as 16 EB or 16 million TB, which tops

the capacity superiority displayed by exFAT (Posey, 2020; ReFS for Windows by

Paragon Software, n.d.). Behind these notable feats, however, Windows cannot

be booted using its volume.

Linux File Systems

A sharp deviation from the intuitive and user-friendly Windows comes the

polarizing Linux, controversial for its high-level and not-so-beginner-friendly

system. Linux can support up to 100 file systems, each having a unique

metadata structure for managing the data (Both, 2016). At its core, however,

Linux file systems use a hierarchical structure that houses the root (/) and its

directories—more similar to file systems supported by Windows than one thinks.

They require an Application Programming Interface (API) critical for allowing the

interaction and manipulation of the file system components, such as creating files

(Linux File System - Javatpoint, n.d.).

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EXT

Linux primarily supports the Extended File System (EXT) line for its data

storage format: EXT2, EXT3, and EXT4, among others. It divides the disk into

logical blocks, with the "superblock" encompassing all information about other

ones, sectors, and cylinder groups. The file system also uses a mount point for

supporting multiple file systems as a subfolder in the root directory referred to by

a path. However, before using the file system and observing such elements,

everything starts with partitioning the disk. Formatting in most Linux file systems

generally uses the "fdisk" command, albeit it may have subtle differences from

one system to the next. In creating the file system, one has to use the "newfs" or

"mkfs" commands followed by the partition device name.

The release of EXT versions came after fixing bugs and enhancing their

capabilities from one system to the next, with the first version of EXT containing

several faults. EXT2, for one, highlighted reliability with its ability to handle

enormous storage. EXT3 followed the journaling trend showcased by NTFS,

while EXT4 increased the maximum file size support to 16 TB. It thoroughly

utilizes the Linux built-in commands, file manipulation process, and security

measures. The line used the UNIX-native UNIX File System (UFS) as its

inspiration, structured in a hierarchy with a reliable framework, comprehensive

security, and robust and expandable storage.

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 Both file systems follow the same structure that uses information nodes

(inodes) for assembling the file attributes, e.g., file size and type, except for the

filename stored in a folder, where an inode number serves as an identification for

each file. There are unique inodes that correspond to the disk found in the device

folders (/dev) called "devices," which can be logical or raw depending on the

presence of logical division in blocks, with the latter having none. The system

stores the file data parts to memory when being saved on the disk until being

written onto it; having the computer shut off while the system is still writing the

data results in damages. However, the user can use the "sync" command to feed

the data into memory. He can also conduct manual integrity checkups on the disk

and file system's superblock, inodes, cluster groups, and directory entries using

the "fsck" instruction. It is part of the surface that showcases the powerful tools

that Linux file systems have where the Windows systems may fall shorter in

specific areas—with the latter also undeniably holding many advantages under

its deck.

MacOS File Systems

Sophistication, cleanliness, comprehensiveness, and advanced

technologies are four words that come to mind when one thinks of Apple and its

computers. The same ideas apply to its file systems—they eliminate the path

complexities of the ones in Windows volume after volume and folder after folder,

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as well as the text-based and structural nuances of Linux (Ashrafi, 2020). Such

changes toward intuitive processes and simplicity stand behind its well-

established features. While the disk utility may offer file systems such as the FAT

lineup, e.g., exFAT, when formatting a drive on an Apple device, the company's

main platter serves Mac OS Extended (HSF+) and Apple File Systems (APFS)

as their highlighted products (Imran, 2022).

HSF+

HSF+ was the default file system used by the macOS series in every Mac

device, starting in 1988 until 2017. Although newer OS versions from High Sierra

and above are still compatible with the system, it is primarily used for HDDs and

other hybrid drives, as APFS needs an SSD to reach its full potential. Thus, it

remains superior to its successor when using a mechanical hard drive and older

Macintosh systems (Pot, 2019). It supports a maximum volume size of 16 TB,

which contests with FAT32. HSF+ is essentially a journaling file system that

secures the data when faced with an unwanted disk or system error based on the

logs maintained during a file's creation or modification—Mac OS Extended

(Journaled). Moreover, a combination of mainstay features subcategorizes it

further: Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted), Mac OS Extended (Case-

sensitive, Journaled), and Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled,

Encrypted). Encrypted ensures that the partition is protected through encryption

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and password requirements, while Case-sensitive diversifies the naming system

based on letter case (Apple Online Academy, 2020).

The first two sectors of its disk are the boot sectors and boot blocks. The

latter is succeeded by the volume information block that spots the catalog b-tree

and extents b-tree for the list of files present in the volume and the location of the

file fragments on the disk, respectively. Its filename can hold a limit of 255

characters using any symbol but the colon (:) used for writing file paths in

contrast to Windows' backslash (\). It also discards the file extension convention

from other systems using the type and creator codes. These make the files not

constricted with their file types and are associated with the responsible

application that will open them—a file named "Aranilla" is accessible as an image,

a text, or an HTML document based on the attributes that determine what

application to open on its behalf (O'Reilly, n.d.). A bookmark file is an alias,

which acts as a pointer to the original file as tracked by the Alias Manager—the

Macintosh equivalent of the Windows shortcut. Such files have two distinct parts

called the data and resource forks. The former holds dynamic information like

word processing, while the latter carries static information like program icons.

APFS

Apple released APFS in 2017 for macOS versions 10.13.6 High Sierra

and higher to be the new default file system after more than a decade-year reign

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by HSF+. It shows its superiority over its Macintosh precedent when used

according to the recommended standard for optimization in an SSD or any flash

memory. APFS leads by a mile in performance, reliability, and security. The

maximum volume it can hold, for one, is 16 EB. It uses the concept of

"containers" and "volumes" for dynamically allocating disk space in demand. The

volumes are sized based on what it requires from the data it houses and shares

the reserved container block with other volumes—Space Sharing. Hence the

user does not need to decide how large the volumes are when creating them.

As elaborated by Hoffman (2017), under-the-hood developments

incorporated by Apple in APFS are what make it shine as a new generation file

system for the company's computers. It refined metadata to be more efficiently

accessible by determining directory size and employing the copy-on-write

technique that helps prevent data corruption by creating a copy of the file

concerned as one modifies the original. Furthermore, file performance increased

by a factor through its file copying marker when two files point to the same data

and a new protocol for "sparse files" that allocates spaces before writing zeroes

to lessen the time it consumes while the OS works on the file. APFS' reliability

comes with its most prominent feature: checksums. It helps the OS determine

faults in the system when the file data (treated through a mathematical formula)

does not match a checksum value. Other notable features include a system-level

snapshot and multi-key encryption. Similar to HFS+, APFS subcategorizes itself

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based on combining essential file system elements: APFS (Encrypted), APFS

(Case-sensitive), and AFP (Case-sensitive, Encrypted). The only issue that one

can find with APFS is its lack of backward compatibility. Introduced in 2017, its

optimization for SSDs means that one cannot fully experience its maximum

capability with HDDs and older systems, in which HSF+ takes a clean win (Pot,

2019).

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