A filesystem is a method of storing and organizing computer files and their data.
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2answers
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What mount points exist on a typical Linux system?
I have 2 questions.
During Linux installation we specify memory space for 2 mount points - root and swap. Are there any other mount points created without the users notice?
Is this statement ...
27
votes
5answers
15k views
What is a Superblock, Inode, Dentry and a File?
From the article Anatomy of Linux File Systems by Tim Jones, I read that Linux views all the file systems from the perspective of a common set of objects and these objects are superblock, inode, ...
4
votes
2answers
3k views
ext4: How to account for the filesystem space?
I've recently formated a 1.5 TB drive with the intention of replacing ntfs with ext4.
Then I noticed that the files I saved don't fit on the new partition.
df:
ext4 (ext3 & ext2 show the same ...
6
votes
2answers
819 views
Find filesystem of an unmounted partition from a script
I'm writing a custom automated install using AIF (Arch Installation Framework), and I need to find the filesystem on a partition given a partition.
So far I have this:
grok_partitions () {
local ...
14
votes
8answers
544 views
How to tell what type of filesystem you're on?
Is there a command to tell what type of filesystem you're using?
17
votes
4answers
11k views
Reserved space for root on a filesystem - why?
I understand that by default, newly created filesystems will be created with 5% of the space allocated for root. I also know you can change the defined space with:
tune2fs -m 1 /dev/sdXY
What I'm ...
38
votes
2answers
1k views
Why does '/' have an '..' entry?
This just baffles me. Why does the root directory contain a reference to a parent directory?
bob@bob:/$ ls -a
. build home lib32 mnt .rpmdb sys vmlinuz
.. cdrom ...
4
votes
4answers
843 views
How to recover a file just deleted [duplicate]
I just deleted a file in Nautilus with Shift+Delete, which warned me that "If you delete an item, it will be permanently lost." I wonder if there is no way to recover the file?
My OS is Ubuntu 10.10. ...
13
votes
1answer
5k views
How can I increase the number of inodes in an ext4 filesystem?
I had a problem (new to me) last week. I have a ext4 (Fedora 15) filesystem. The application that runs on the server suddenly stopped. I couldn't find the problem at first look.
df showed 50% ...
30
votes
7answers
1k views
ZFS under linux, does it work?
Could I get ZFS to work properly in Linux?
Are there any caveats / limitations?
11
votes
2answers
7k views
timestamp, modification time, and created time of a file
I just know that ls -t, -f give different sorting of files and subdirectories under a directory.
Now I wonder what are the differences between timestamp, modification time, and created time of a ...
9
votes
4answers
1k views
The merits of a partitionless filesystem
I ran into something a couple of weeks ago that I'd never seen before: A filesystem (ext3 I believe) installed to a storage device without a partition. In essence /dev/sdb was the entire filesystem. I ...
8
votes
2answers
2k views
Clear unused space with zeros (ext3,ext4)
How to clear unused space with zeros ? (ext3,ext4)
I'm looking for something smarter than
cat /dev/zero > /mnt/X/big_zero ; sync; rm /mnt/X/big_zero
Like FSArchiver is looking for "used space" ...
2
votes
2answers
367 views
How to show the filesystem type via the terminal? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How to tell what type of filesystem you’re on?
Find filesystem of an unmounted partition from a script
How can I quickly check the filesystem of the partition? Can I ...
65
votes
4answers
6k views
/usr/bin vs /usr/local/bin on Linux
Why are there so many places to put a binary in Linux? There are atleast these five:
/bin/
/sbin/
/usr/bin/
/usr/local/bin/
/usr/local/sbin/
And on my office box, I do not have write permissions ...
130
votes
3answers
20k views
What is the purpose of the lost+found folder in Linux and Unix?
There is a folder at the root of Linux and Unix operating systems called /lost+found/
What is it for? Under what circumstances would I interact with it? How would I interact with it?
9
votes
1answer
377 views
What is Linux doing differently that allows me to remove/replace files where Windows would complain the file is currently in use?
The example I have is Minecraft. When running Bukkit on Linux I can remove or update the .jar files in the /plugins folder and simply run the 'reload' command.
In Windows, I have to take the whole ...
26
votes
2answers
830 views
Why is '.' a hard link in Unix?
I've seen many explanations for why the link count for an empty directory in Unix based OSes is 2 instead of 1. They all say that it's because of the '.' directory, which every directory has pointing ...
9
votes
2answers
3k views
Number of files per directory
I have a directory with about 100000 small files (each file is from 1-3 lines, each file is a text file). In size the directory isn't very big (< 2GB). This data lives in a professionally ...
16
votes
4answers
12k views
Recovering ext4 superblocks
Recently, my external hard drive enclosure failed (the hard drive itself powers up in another enclosure). However, as a result, it appears its EXT4 file system is corrupt.
The drive has a single ...
11
votes
2answers
1k views
understanding “mount” as a concept in the OS
I want to understand what mounting is. It is used in different contexts and situations and I can't find resources which:
Describe the mount concept
Explain the actions taken by the ...
9
votes
5answers
310 views
Which application should I blame for compulsively creating a directory again and again?
There's an application on my system which keeps creating an empty ~/Desktop directory again and again. I can't stand capital letters in my home, nor I can stand this “desktop” thingy. So, as picky as ...
7
votes
2answers
1k views
Several questions about file-system character encoding on linux
Due to a lot of file exchange works between Windows (GBK encoding) and Linux (UTF-8 encoding), it will encounter character encoding issues easily, such as:
zip/tar files whose name contains chinese ...
8
votes
4answers
1k views
How are directories implemented in Unix filesystems?
My question is how directories are implemented? I can believe a data structure like a variable e.g. table, array or similar. Since UNIX is Open Source I can look in the source what the program does ...
5
votes
3answers
2k views
How to setup a “data” partition shared by multiple Linux OS'es?
Currently I have a NTFS partition that contains shared data. My rationale is, NTFS doesn't have any idea about file permissions, so I won't have any trouble using them in a multi-boot system ...
3
votes
3answers
351 views
Most unix-like filesystem that can be mounted under windows and Mac OS X
I've recently purchased a usb stick which I will be using to share data between me and my colleagues.
I'd like to format it as ext3, but I know this will cause trouble because for instance Mac OS X ...
10
votes
3answers
1k views
What file systems on Linux store the creation time?
Are there any (good known, reliable) file systems on Linux that store the creation time of files and directories in the i-node table?
If there are, is the "changed" time replaced by the creation ...
3
votes
1answer
195 views
How does the Linux file structure work?
I see the different folders bin, dev, mnt, proc, srv, sys, etc.
What are the properties of all these different folders? What are there purposes? Are there files in some of them that I should not ...
3
votes
2answers
3k views
Format external hard drive to linux compatible file system
How do I format my external hard drive to a very Linux compatible file system?
I am using L-Ubuntu 11.04.
2
votes
3answers
887 views
ReFS but for Linux
Microsoft is going to bring a "Resilient FileSystem" with Windows 8, but only for servers. I'd like that on a Linux desktop, but my search reveals no contender. There are so many filesystems for ...
2
votes
1answer
2k views
What is an inode? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What is a Superblock, Inode, Dentry and a File?
Documentation of Unix-file-systems contains often the term 'inode'. What is that and what does that? Why have ...
1
vote
2answers
1k views
Mount device with r/w access to specific user
How can I mount some device with read-write access to specific user?
26
votes
5answers
7k views
Can I configure my Linux system for more aggressive file system caching?
I am neither concerned about RAM usage (as I've got enough) nor about losing data in case of an accidental shut-down (as my power is backed, the system is reliable and the data are not critical). But ...
21
votes
1answer
777 views
What do the device files in /dev actually do?
(Not a duplicate of Understanding /dev and its subdirs and files)
I was browsing around my filesystem and for the first time I took a second to analyze my /dev directory. I was surprised by the ...
19
votes
5answers
5k views
How can I create a /dev/null-like “blackhole” directory?
I would like to create a "/dev/null" directory (or a "blackhole" directory) such that any files written to it are not really written, but just disappear.
I have an application that writes out large ...
17
votes
5answers
2k views
Why do hard links exist?
I know what hard links are, but why would I use them? What is the utility of a hard link?
11
votes
5answers
6k views
Script to monitor folder for new files?
How do I detect new files in a folder with a bash script? I would like to process the files as soon as they are created in the folder. Is this possible to do so or do I have to schedule a script with ...
9
votes
2answers
7k views
29
votes
2answers
7k views
Why hard links not allowed to directories in UNIX/Linux
I read in text books that UNIX/Linux doesn't allows hard links to directories but soft links do. Is it because, when we have cycles and if we create hardlinks, and after some time we delete the ...
12
votes
3answers
637 views
File system compatible with all OSes?
I use Linux and Mac OS X on a regular basis, and sometimes I have to use Windows. I need to use a flash drive on all three, and I need a filesystem that will work well on all of them. None of the ...
9
votes
3answers
4k views
What is the most high-performance Linux filesystem for storing a lot of small files (HDD, not SSD)?
I have a directory tree that contains many small files, and a small number of larger files. The average size of a file is about 1 kilobyte. There are 210158 files and directories in the tree (this ...
13
votes
5answers
1k views
Do journaling filesystems guarantee against corruption after a power failure?
I am asking this question on behalf of another user who raised the issue in the Ubuntu chat room.
Do journaling filesystems guarantee that no corruption will occur if a power failure occurs?
If this ...
11
votes
3answers
2k views
What are the advantages of Btrfs for end users?
Btrfs has begun to gain some momentum in replacing ext4 as the default filesystem of choice for a few distributions such as Fedora Core 16. It is experimentally available in a number of other ...
18
votes
2answers
878 views
Where do the files go if you mount a drive to a folder that already contains files?
I just accidentally mounted a new drive to a folder that already contained files. I don't care about them and have them somewhere else, but that folder appears empty now. I'm curious what happened ...
13
votes
3answers
1k views
How can I de-fragment a drive using Ubuntu?
Is it necessary to defrag drives in Ubuntu? If so, how do I do it and how often should it be done?
11
votes
1answer
281 views
How to compact a directory
Every so often, some application runs wild and fills a directory with a huge amount of files. Once we fix the bug and clean up the files, the directory stays big (>50MB) even though there's only 20-30 ...
11
votes
3answers
1k views
Automatically rename files when they are placed in a specific directory
Is it possible to automatically rename a file when it's placed in a specific directory?
For example I have a directory named "dir0".I move or copy a file named "file1" to "dir0".then "file1" should ...
11
votes
6answers
2k views
Linux equivalent to ReadyBoost?
Is there a kernel module or some other patch or something similar to Windows' ReadyBoost?
Basically I'm looking for something that allows disk reads to be cached on a Flash drive.
10
votes
5answers
913 views
Best way to do full disk encryption?
I have got a bit lost and am not sure which technology to choose for full disk encryption. It is hard to tell if the information out there is still up to date. Is there a current best practice ...
8
votes
2answers
8k views
How to get the complete and exact list of mounted filesystems in Linux?
I usually use mount to check which filesystems are mounted. I also know there is some connection between mount and /etc/mtab but I'm not sure about the details. After reading How to check if /proc/ is ...
