Compare file system in Windows and Linux

A. File System in Linux :

Linux supports more than 12 file systems with NFS technology. When Linux (that is, operating system
code) is linked, the default file system option needs to be specified. other file systems can be called
dynamically depending on requirements. Ext file system is the most popular option. It is similar to the
Berkeley file system.

This file system assumes that the disk begins with a boot block and then the disk is created from a series
of other blockgroups. Block groups are numbered sequentially, and contain several subfields.

The details of the sub-fields in a block group are as follows-

1. Super Block – Specifies the number of blocks, the number of i-nodes, block size etc.
2. Group Description – Contains information about the bitmap location, number of free blocks, i-
nodes, directories in the group, etc.
3. Block Bitmap – Contains a list of free blocks.
4. I-node Bitmap – Contains a list of free I-nodes.
5. I-nodes – These are the actual i-nodes. Each I-node is 128 byte long.

Linux supports the following file types-

1. Directory – This is simply a list of names.

2. Ordinary File – This is a file containing data or application program or executable.
3. Symbolic Link – This file is actually a link to (or path of) another file.
4. Special File – This refers to a device driver.
5. Named pipe – This is a common channel between two or more processes for data exchange.

Following are some of the important features of Linux Operating System.

 Portable − Portability means software can works on different types of hardware in same way.
Linux kernel and application programs supports their installation on any kind of hardware
platform.
 Open Source − Linux source code is freely available and it is community based development
project. Multiple teams work in collaboration to enhance the capability of Linux operating
system and it is continuously evolving.
 Multi-User − Linux is a multiuser system means multiple users can access system resources like
memory/ ram/ application programs at same time.
 Multiprogramming − Linux is a multiprogramming system means multiple applications can run
at same time.
 Hierarchical File System − Linux provides a standard file structure in which system files/ user
files are arranged.
 Shell − Linux provides a special interpreter program which can be used to execute commands of
the operating system. It can be used to do various types of operations, call application
programs. etc.
 Security − Linux provides user security using authentication features like password protection/
controlled access to specific files/ encryption of data.
B. File System in Windows :

Windows 2000 (W2K) supports a number of file systems including the file allocation table (FAT) that
runs on Windows 95, MS-DOS and OS/2. But the developers of W@K also designed a new file system,
the W2K file system (NTFS), that is intended to meet high-end requirements for workstations and
servers.

Examples of high-end applications include the following-

1. Client/server applications such as file servers, computer servers and database servers.
2. Resource-intensive engineering and scientific applications.
3. Network applications for large corporate systems.

Key Features of NTFS :

NTFS is a flexible and powerful file system, built on a simple file system model. The most notable
features of NTFS include the following-

1. Recoverability
2. Security
3. Large disks and large files
4. Multiple data streams
5. General Indexing Facility

NTFS Volume and File Structure :

NTFS makes use of the following disk storage concepts-

1. Sector :
The smallest physical storage unit on the disk. The data size in bytes is a power of 2 and is
almost always 512 bytes.
2. Cluster :
One or more contiguous (next to each other on the same track) sectors. The cluster size in
sectors is a power of 2.
3. Volume :
A logical partition on a disk, consisting of one or more clusters and used by a file system to
allocate space. At any time, a volume consists of a file system information, a collection of files,
and any additional unallocated space remaining on the volume that can be allocated to files. A
volume can be all or a portion of a single disk or it can extend across multiple disks. If hardware
or software RAID 5 is employed, a volume consists of stripes spanning multiple disks.

C. Comparison:

Windows uses FAT and NTFS as file systems, while Linux uses a variety of file systems.
Unlike Windows, Linux is bootable from a network drive.

Linux has two kinds of major partitions called data partitions and swap partitions. Because of the
existence of swap partitions, you never run out of memory in Linux (like in windows).

In terms of recovery tools, only a limited number of tools can be used on Windows, while there is a large
number of UNIX based recovery tools available for Linux file systems.

Both Windows and Linux organize disk-based files into a hierarchy of directories. Such directories are

usually called “folders” when viewed in a GUI. One whole hierarchy is called a “file system” on both
platforms. The architecture of Windows and Linux file systems is similar in some points, but diverges
greatly when tools are considered. Here’s a quick comparison.

On hardware derived from Intel or IBM PCs, both Windows and Linux use the Master Block Record/

Master Boot Record (MBR). That is the bit of disk used to boot the operating system and to state
whether the disk is partitioned or not. On both Windows and Linux, it is common to have at most one
file system per partition. That is about the end of the similarity.

Each Windows file system gets a drive letter, like “C:”. On Linux, each file system gets a device, like
/dev/hda1 (“hard disk A part 1”), which is represented as a file. Such a file is a device file (since a disk is a
device), hence the “dev” part of the path name. Also, the device file is not an ordinary text file, it is a
“special file.” Since disks are block devices (unlike a serial mouse), such a file is fully described as a
“block special device file.” The numbered part of the path can be a little weird to get right; it’s best to
be guided by documentation there or extract the right name from a report.

On Windows, file systems can be FAT16, FAT32 or NTFS, to name a few. Recall FAT16 is the ancient
standard responsible for Windows file names with the “8.3” file name length restriction. On Linux,
filesystems can be “minix,” “ext,” or “ext2,” to name a few. Also, “minix” is an example of the ancient
standard responsible for UNIX file names once being limited to 14 characters. Linux also has “msdos”
and “vfat” file systems for compatibility with Windows and DOS, plus more.

Windows uses FORMAT.EXE to format a disk. Linux uses “mkfs” (“make file system”) in various specialist
forms.

Each Windows file system has a File Allocation Table (FAT, VFAT, or similar) that states which disk blocks
hold the topmost directory. On Linux, the equivalent on most filesystems is the superblock. A Linux file
system has multiple copies of the superblock physically saved on the disk. This provides redundancy in
case of a partial disk corruption. The superblock is just about always in memory on Linux; that is not the
case for ancient DOS-like file systems. There are no special restrictions on files placed in the topmost
directory on Linux, either.

On Windows, there is one drive letter per mounted file system: for example, C: for C: and D: for D:.
On Linux there are no drive letters, so one file system is mounted on “/” and all other file systems are
mounted on subdirectories of “/.” This arrangement is like the little-used MS-DOS command SUBST, or
the NET USE command that supports Novell‘s NetWare. The equivalent Linux command is “mount.”

You can see all this at work on Linux, but for some of it you need to be logged in as root. Type “cat
/etc/fstab” to see all the mountable devices, including floppy disks and CD players. Type “df” to see the
devices currently mounted, and their free space. In the usual case you can even see the superblock: try
“/sbin/dumpe2fs /dev/hda1” where hda1 comes from the output of “df.” The name “dumpe2fs” is a
casualty of history; it replaces the older “dumpfs.” The information produced is really just for diagnostic
purposes.