A Fast File System for UNIX (Revised July 27, 1983)

A reimplementation of the UNIX file system is described. The reimplementation provides substantially higher throughput rates by using more flexible allocation policies, that allow better locality of reference and that can be adapted to a wide range of peripheral and processor characteristics. The new file system clusters data that is sequentially accessed and provides two block sizes to allow fast access for large files while not wasting large amounts of space for small files. File access rates of up to ten times faster than the traditional UNIX file system are experienced. Long needed enhancements to the user interface are discussed. These include a mechanism to lock files, extensions of the name space across file systems, the ability to use arbitrary length file names, and provisions for efficient administrative control of resource usage.