Problem Statement
Explain the difference between a filesystem and a partition. What are common Linux filesystems and their use cases?
Explanation
A partition is a logical division of physical disk space, like dividing a hard drive into separate sections. Each partition can have its own filesystem. Partitions are created with tools like fdisk or parted and appear as /dev/sda1, /dev/sda2, etc. Partitioning allows separating system files from user data, running multiple OS, or organizing data differently.
A filesystem is the method of organizing and storing files on a partition. It defines how data is stored, named, organized, and accessed. The filesystem handles file metadata, directories, permissions, and data block allocation. You create a filesystem on a partition with mkfs command like mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1.
Common Linux filesystems include ext4 (most common, journaling, good performance, widely supported), XFS (excellent for large files and high-performance servers, used by RHEL 7+), Btrfs (modern with snapshots, compression, and RAID support), and ZFS (advanced features but licensing issues with Linux kernel). Ext4 is the safe default for most uses.
Use cases: ext4 for general purpose systems, XFS for servers with large files or high I/O, Btrfs for systems needing snapshots or advanced features (though less mature than ext4), and tmpfs for /tmp (memory-based, fast but lost on reboot). Understanding filesystems and partitions is fundamental for disk management, system installation, and performance tuning.
