File System: ext4

File System: ext4

The ext4 file system was released in late 2008. As you might guess, ext4 (Fourth Extended File System) is an updated version of ext3. Just as ext3 is backward compatible with ext2, ext4 is backward compatible with ext3 (and ext2, for that matter). The ext4 file system supports volumes up to 1 exabyte in size and files up to 16 terabytes in size. You can have a maximum of four billion files in an ext4 file system. As with ext2 and ext3, the maximum length of a file or directory name is 255 characters. Ext4 also uses checksums to verify the journal file itself. This helps improve the overall reliability of the system because the journal file is one of the most heavily used files of the disk. As you can see, ext4 represents a dramatic leap forward over ext3 and Reiser