The Mac Observer

Skip navigational links

Featured Article:

Sun CEO: Leopard to Go ZFS

by , 1:40 PM EDT, June 7th, 2007

One bit of news about Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) we can expect to hear during the World Wide Developer Conference is that Apple will be replacing the HFS+ file system with Sun's ZFS file system. Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz revealed the news during a presentation in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, according to CNET News.

ZFS, or Zetabyte File System, is Sun's open source 128-bit file storage system that was originally developed for the Solaris Operating System. One of the advantages of ZFS is that it is not constrained by the file size and maximum number of file limitations found in most operating systems including Mac OS X 10.4. Instead, it is capable of storing substantially greater numbers of files - to the tune of billions more.

ZFS also has the ability to use hard disk space more efficiently with variable size data blocks, dynamically stripe data across multiple drives, and take "snapshots" of an operating system and data so users can roll back to previous versions.

Apple has not officially announced that it will be adopting the ZFS file system with Mac OS X 10.5, but based on Mr. Schwartz's comments it seems very likely that CEO Steve Jobs will discuss it during his WWDC keynote address on Monday.

Observer Comments

Show: Subjects Only | Full Comments
Close Name:Guest
Subject: Expert opinion

For an expert opinion: http://www.bynkii.com/

Close Name:Guest
Subject: Sounds good!

I was skeptical that ZFS would be in Leopard if released in June. But, using it for an October release date makes perfect sense since it takes about 4 months to burn it in very solidly in a wide-beta. Will it be the default FS? I would want that because changing it to default after Leopard ships sets up a bad migration problem on existing Leopard systems and point releases. It would be best to make a clean breakaway from HFS+ to ZFS. And lets face it, a new fancy FS is way past due for the entire computer industry and ZFS is the best chance I've seen yet.

Comment on this Article


You cannot edit your comments.   You cannot delete your comments.
Log in | Register | Having Problems? Reset TMO Cookies & Try Again
Username:   Password:   Log me on automatically each visit   

You are not logged in, and this post will appear as "Guest." Log in with your username and password from the TMO forums. If you do not have a username, you can register here.
Please note that guests are limited to including a maximum of two URLs per post.


Post A Comment
  Subject


  Your Comments



Please enter the word exactly as you see it in the image above. Registered users aren't prompted for this. Having trouble reading the image get a new one.


Recent Headlines - Updated January 8th

Wed, 6:20 PM
Macworld Expo 2009 - Ecamm Introduces World’s First Bluetooth Webcam
6:16 PM
News - Verbatim Announces Speaker Keyboard, Store ‘n’ Go Micro USB Drive
6:09 PM
Photo Gallery - Photo Gallery: Macworld 2009 Day 2
3:24 PM
Just a Thought - First Time Macworld Impression
12:16 PM
News - EMC Issues Beta of Retrospect 8.0 Backup Software
12:04 PM
News - REAL Server 2009 to Ship Next Month
11:40 AM
News - Livescribe to Bring Pulse Smartpen Software to Mac
10:58 AM
Hot Forum Topic - Reader Reactions: Apple’s Macworld Expo Keynote
10:39 AM
News - Verbatim, Lexar Introduce New Flash Storage Options
10:20 AM
Editorial - Don’t shoot the messenger: Content, Not Delivery Marred Apple’s Last Keynote
9:51 AM
News - LaCie Releases 2big Quadra External Hard Drive Line
9:29 AM
News - Microsoft’s Mac Business Unit Reveals Upcoming Office Improvements

The Mac Observer Reader Specials