
For example, if the original size (with all zero bytes) is 500 MB, and there is a 400 MB quota limit for the user account used to create it.
Mac os ext4 support free#
You also need to be careful with them, as a sparse file that is only a few megabytes in size can suddenly grow to several gigabytes when unsupported applications copy it to its destination.Īnother disadvantage is that you cannot copy or create such a file if its nominal size exceeds the available free space (or quota limits imposed on user accounts). If the program does not have the ability to recognize or use them, then it will keep them in their original – uncompressed state, which will give no benefit. The benefits are limited only by the applications that support them. Large sparse files are created in a relatively short time because the file system does not need to pre-allocate disk space to write zeros. Storage space is automatically allocated as data is written to it. The biggest advantage of sparse files is that the user can create large files that take up very little storage space.
Mac os ext4 support software#
However, some software products do not support compression. Since additional resources will be used to decompress or compress the data. The main disadvantage of using compression is that it can slow down system read / write performance. Both of these tools offer the advantage of saving disk space, but achieve this goal in different ways. Difference between compression and sparse filesĪll of the file systems I have named above also support the standard compression feature. Their properties can be controlled only through command line commands. This type supports most file systems: BTRFS, NILFS, ZFS, NTFS, ext2, ext3, ext4, XFS, JFS, ReiserFS, Reiser4, UFS, Rock Ridge, UDF, ReFS, APFS, F2FS.Īll these FS fully support this type, but at the same time do not provide direct access to their functions through their standard interface.
