Filesystem Ideal Use Case Matrix
SSD • SD/microSD • Archival • Large Files • Small Files • Boot • Encryption • Retro • Removable Media
| Filesystem |
SSD |
SD / microSD |
Archival |
Large Files |
Small Files |
Boot Partition |
Encryption |
Retro Systems |
Removable Media |
| Btrfs |
Excellent |
Good |
Excellent |
Excellent |
Good |
With bootloader |
fscrypt |
Avoid |
Good |
| CP/M |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Retro native |
No |
| exFAT |
Good |
Excellent |
Good |
Excellent |
Weak |
UEFI |
No |
No |
Excellent |
| ext2 |
Good |
Good |
No |
Good |
Excellent |
Yes |
fscrypt |
Legacy Linux |
Good |
| ext3 |
Good |
Good |
No |
Good |
Good |
Yes |
fscrypt |
Legacy Linux |
Good |
| ext4 |
Excellent |
Good |
Good |
Excellent |
Good |
Yes |
fscrypt |
Legacy Linux |
Good |
| F2FS |
Excellent |
Excellent |
Good |
Good |
Good |
With bootloader |
fscrypt |
No |
Excellent |
| FAT16 |
No |
Good |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
Retro DOS |
Good |
| FAT32 |
No |
Excellent |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
Retro / BIOS |
Excellent |
| HFS |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Classic Mac |
No |
| HFS+ |
Good |
No |
Good |
Good |
Good |
No |
No |
Mac OS X |
Good |
| JFS |
Good |
No |
Good |
Excellent |
Excellent |
With bootloader |
No |
Legacy Unix |
No |
| Linux-swap |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
No |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
| LUKS |
Excellent |
Excellent |
Excellent |
Excellent |
Excellent |
No |
Full-disk |
No |
Good |
| LVM2 PV |
Excellent |
Good |
Excellent |
Excellent |
Good |
No |
Layered |
No |
Good |
| MINIX |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Legacy BIOS |
No |
MINIX OS |
No |
| NILFS2 |
Good |
No |
Excellent |
Good |
No |
With bootloader |
Optional |
No |
No |
| NTFS |
Good |
No |
Good |
Excellent |
Good |
UEFI |
EFS |
No |
Excellent |
| Reiser4 |
Good |
No |
Good |
Excellent |
Excellent |
With bootloader |
Optional |
No |
No |
| ReiserFS |
No |
No |
No |
Good |
Excellent |
With bootloader |
No |
No |
No |
| SFS (Amiga) |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Amiga OS |
No |
| UDF |
No |
Excellent |
Good |
Good |
No |
With bootloader |
No |
No |
Optical / Removable |
| XFS |
Excellent |
No |
Excellent |
Excellent |
No |
With bootloader |
No |
No |
No |