Hi, For a disk file-system, if the on disk layout is static, like EXT2 or UFS, what parameter decides the maximum size of file-system or file on it ? I would guess the *'size of inode entry used to store the block number'* will decide the maximum number of blocks it can address. This together with *'size of block'* should decide these limits.
Another thing is, is it a usually followed that this 'inode entry used to store the block number'* *is usually long, which maps to word size of underlying architecture[correct here if needed]. On 32bit architecture, where word size and hence long is 32bit, if we use long long data type for this, for each comparison of block numbers or in-memory processing of it, one would need to read two words each time. Does it really help to improve performance ? Or it doesnt affect and block number could be long long ? Thanks. - Sunil.
