CS-405 - Operating Systems
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Topic starter
01/08/2025 11:07 pm
NTFS is a modern file system developed by Microsoft. It is used as the default file system for Windows operating systems. It is designed to support large storage volumes, provide improved performance, security features such as file permissions and encryption, and ensure data integrity through journaling.
Key Features of NTFS:
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Supports Large Files | Handles files larger than 4 GB (unlike FAT32). |
| File Compression | Allows compressing files to save disk space. |
| File Encryption (EFS) | Supports Encrypting File System for security. |
| Access Control Lists (ACLs) | Fine-grained permissions on files/folders. |
| Journaling | Keeps track of changes to prevent corruption after crashes. |
| Disk Quotas | Limits disk space usage per user. |
| Unicode File Names | Supports international characters in file names. |
| Hard Links & Symbolic Links | Supports advanced linking features. |
| Sparse Files | Efficiently stores files with large empty spaces. |
| Self-Healing | Automatically detects and repairs some disk errors. |
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🔹 NTFS Structure:
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Uses Master File Table (MFT) to store metadata about every file.
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Each file is represented as a record in MFT.
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Supports metadata like timestamps, permissions, and attributes.
🔹 Advantages of NTFS:
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Reliable and robust file system.
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Better security features than FAT32.
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Efficient handling of large files and volumes.
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Supports advanced OS features (encryption, quotas).
🔹 Limitations:
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Not fully supported by some non-Windows OSes (limited read/write support on Linux/macOS without extra drivers).
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Slightly more complex than FAT32 or exFAT.
