Which file systems does Linux support?

You cannot generally determine which file systems "Linux" supports, since there are many Linux-based distributions. However, there are file systems that support the majority of them.

Linux: Which file systems you can use

In this example, Ubuntu serves as a classic Linux distribution. The compatibility also applies to most other distributions.

• The Linux file system par excellence is "EXT", it is currently distributed in three versions: "EXT2" is obsolete due to the missing journaling function. System checks, for example after a power failure, take a relatively long time. "EXT3" has long been the standard and was replaced by "EXT4" in 2008.
• Many distributions also support more exotic systems like "ReiserFS", "JFS" and "XFS". Also supported are the Solaris file system "ZFS" and the Oracle file system "BTRFS" (Ubuntu since "13.04"), which is still in the beta phase.
• You can also use versions of Microsoft, albeit with some restrictions. You can not use partitions formatted with "FAT12 / 16/32" as installation media (missing journaling), but you can read and write from them without problems. The same applies to "NTFS". But this also has a necessary rights system for files, which you can also use for the most part for Linux. Ubuntu supports this feature since version "10.04".

We also show you which file systems Windows 7 supports.