File systems are what make organized data storage possible, and quite a few have appeared over the years: FAT32, exFAT, NTFS, Ext2\/3\/4, Btrfs<\/a>, HFS, APFS, etc. However, there’s one file system that outshines them all–ZFS. But what exactly is ZFS?<\/p>\n In my mind’s eye, I see a slightly tipsy Sun Microsystems (the creators) software engineer doing their Inspector Clouseau impression when the idea for this file system to end all files systems was brokered, saying, “We have zee file sees-tem!” If you’re seeking a less fanciful explanation, how about ZFS being 128 bits instead of the usual 64 bits, making it capable of handling “Z”etabytes (1 billion terabytes) of storage. Zee where I’m going here?<\/p>\n But while its capacity is huge, ZFS is equally about independent operation and data integrity. It acts as its own volume manager and RAID controller and offers file server functionality via Samba (SMB), NFS, iSCSI, etc. Features such as copy on write and Merkle parity trees protect from just about every conceivable type of data hazard. If your data is going to be used to navigate a rocket to Mars, ZFS is what you want.<\/p>\n The ZFS volume manager handles pools (zpools) of any type of storage device, normally SSDs and hard drives<\/a>. It can tier them (fastest to slowest), and allows multiple mount points, or in ZFS parlance–data sets. Data sets are functionally similar to user shared folders in that the have their own settings for compression, security, access, and more.<\/p>\nWhat is ZFS?<\/h2>\n
Major Features of ZFS<\/h2>\n