In a journaling file system, what is the difference between "metadata-only" journaling and "full data" journaling?
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The correct answer is A) Metadata-only journaling logs changes to file system structures (inodes, directories) for fast crash recovery, while full data journaling additionally logs file content changes, offering stronger consistency at the cost of more I/O overhead
Correct Answer
Metadata-only journaling logs changes to file system structures (inodes, directories) for fast crash recovery, while full data journaling additionally logs file content changes, offering stronger consistency at the cost of more I/O overhead
Metadata journaling (the ext4 default, "ordered" mode) protects file system structures so a crash won't corrupt directories or inode tables, recovering quickly. Full ("journal") mode also logs actual file data changes, giving stronger guarantees against data loss but roughly doubling write I/O.