What are Ext2/Ext3/Ext4 File System Formats? What’s the Difference? [Complete Guide]

What are Ext2/Ext3/Ext4 File System Formats? What's the Difference Between Them? [Complete Guide]

Which file system should you use: Ext2, Ext3, or Ext4? This question often confuses people when it comes to choosing a file system. In this article, we'll explain the Ext2, Ext3, and Ext4 file systems and highlight the key differences between these partitions. We'll also recommend a third-party tool that will help you set up and create Ext2/3/4 partitions on your Windows PC. Let's dive into the details.

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Linux File System Formats

The Linux file system is an organized collection of files on a disk drive or partition. It is used for data management, where specific data is stored in the partitions. The purpose of systematic data storage is to enable quick access to files. It manages all information, including file size, creation date, filename, and more.

The Linux filesystem format is supported by Windows. It supports Ext2, Ext3, Ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS, btrfs, and swap file systems.

What are the Ext2, Ext3, and Ext4 file systems?

ext2 (Second Extended File System)

Ext2, which stands for Second Extended File System, was introduced in 1993 as the first commercial file system designed to overcome limitations of the Ext file system. It lacks journaling features, making it suitable for use with flash drives and USB devices. The maximum size of a single file supported by Ext2 is 2TB, while the total capacity of the file system ranges from 4TB to 32TB, depending on the block size.

Ext2 is a basic and portable file system. It is suitable for flash-based storage devices like SD cards and USB sticks because it doesn't have the overhead of logging, reducing the number of write operations and thus increasing performance.

ext3 (Third Extended File System)

Ext3 stands for Third Extended File System. This journaling file system is used by several Linux distributions. It tracks all changes made within Ext3 to enhance reliability and minimize the possibility of file system corruption. Additionally, it allows you to upgrade from Ext2 without the need for backing up and restoring your data.

Both Ext2 and Ext3 use the e2fsprogs suite as standard utilities, which makes interaction between the two file systems easier and smoother. Ext3 was designed with new features such as journaling, online file system growth, and HTree large directory indexing. It uses less CPU resources than some other Linux file systems, is relatively more secure, and allows for easy data recovery.

ext4

Ext4 is an evolutionary extension of the Ext2 file system, and it's the default file system for most Linux distributions. Other operating systems also support Ext4, including Windows, FreeBSD, macOS, and KolibriOS (read-only).

Ext4 was introduced to address limitations on storage capacity and system performance. Compared to earlier Ext systems, it supports volumes as large as 1 EB and, with a standard 4K block size, individual files as large as 16 TB.

What are the differences between Ext2, Ext3, and Ext4?

Extended File System 2 (ext2)

Advantages

• Supports files up to 4 TB in size.
• File names can be up to 255 bytes long.
• Enables tracking of the file system's status.

Disadvantages

• Includes a block size for garbage collection
• Logs no file operations

ext3

Advantages

- Filenames can contain any character except NULL and '/'. - Logging, journaling, and writeback options. - Can convert an Ext2 filesystem to Ext3 without a backup and restore. - Basic multi-mount protection. - Sub-second timestamps. - Updates are safer and appear atomic due to logging.

Drawbacks

• Lacks basic features like extent-based allocation, dynamic inode and block sub-allocation
• Difficult to recover from deleted files
• Writing logs to storage devices with additional caches
• No support for snapshots

ext4

Advantages

- Support for large single file sizes and volume file system sizes - Support for all characters except NULL and '/' - Ability to convert an Ext3 file system to Ext4 - Advanced features such as extended attributes, directory indexing, delayed allocation, and defragmentation - Unlimited number of subdirectories - Nanosecond timestamps - Pre-allocation of extended files - Multiple block allocations

Drawbacks

• No data safety guarantees
• Difficult to create snapshots across different volumes
• Takes up more disk space

EXT2 versus EXT3: Which is Better?

In Ext2 and Ext3, Ext3 is better, because it has journaling, which is a primary requirement for a file system.

Ext2 vs. Ext4: Which Is Better?

Ext4 is better than Ext2 because it offers advantages such as reduced file fragmentation, improved file-system performance, and the ability to store larger files.

Ext3 vs. Ext4: Which Is Better?

Although similar in features, Ext3 lacks some of the advanced file-system features found in Ext4, making the latter a better choice between the two.

Here are some advantages of Ext4 over Ext3:

• Flexible block groups
• Support for large files
• More subdirectories

All in all, Ext4 delivers better performance, reliability, and scalability.

4. ext2, ext3, or ext4: Which is best?

For modern Windows and Linux hard drives, Ext4 is a better choice, since it's compatible with Windows and other operating systems. It's the default file system for many Linux distributions, including Debian and Ubuntu.

Ext4 offers greater flexibility in data storage. It can handle large files and has advanced features compared to Ext2 and Ext3. It offers unlimited subdirectories. Additionally, Ext4 is designed to be backward-compatible. Thus, if you still want to use Ext2 or Ext3, you can mount an Ext4 system as Ext3 or Ext2, or an Ext3 system as Ext4.

Ext4 has several advantages over its predecessors. It minimizes file fragmentation, which extends the life of flash-based storage, and it can store larger files than Ext2 or Ext3.

When should I use Ext2/3/4?

When it comes to managing data, file systems like Ext 2/3/4 are commonly used. They allow for easy and efficient handling of files. Each file system has its unique set of features and functions and works well. However, Ext4 offers particular support for Linux and Windows operating systems.

How to Create an Ext2/3/4 Linux Partition on Windows

Here is a guide on how to set up a drive with Linux file system format on your Windows computer. To create partitions, we recommend trying out a disk partition manager. It supports Linux-based file systems Ext2, Ext3, and Ext4. Additionally, it allows formatting of hard drives and partitioning them into two file systems, either Ext2 or Ext3.

Here are some useful features of the tool Partition Master:

• Format and convert to NTFS, FAT32
• Ability to resize Ext partitions
• Shrink partitions to a specified size
• Merge partitions to expand disk space
• Fix low disk space errors
• Migrate Windows 11 to SSD
• Clone systems, files, and data
• Recover lost Ext2/3/4 partitions

Here's how you can use this handy software to access Ext2/3/4 Linux partitions on Windows:

Step 1: Launch Partition Master. Right-click on the “Unallocated” space on the hard drive or external storage device from the main interface and choose “Create”.

Step 2. Adjust the size of the new partition, the file system (choose a filesystem as necessary), label, etc., and click OK to proceed.

Step 3. Click the Run 1 Task button, and then create the new partition by clicking Apply.

Watch the following video tutorial to learn how to create partitions on an NTFS, FAT, or EXT file system.

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Conclusion

In short, the Linux filesystem is an organized collection of files primarily used for data management. Linux supports the Ext2, Ext3, and Ext4 filesystems. Each has its own features and works well with Linux. However, for newer devices and modern computers, Ext4 is a better choice since it supports not only Linux but also other operating systems, and it allows for volume sizes up to 1 EB.