ZFS
Open-source copy-on-write filesystem and volume manager with snapshots, checksums, compression and encryption.
Loved for snapshots and easy rollback1234, native encryption and send-based backups567, and stability that several users found better than Btrfs.8910 The most common caveat is that it is out-of-tree on Linux, where some advise running it on FreeBSD instead11121314, and a few users report pools that corrupted or crashed the kernel on mount.1516
Why people recommend it
Snapshots & rollback · 3
Snapshots, clones and boot environments act as a safety net for reverting systems and files.
“I just revert to an old zfs snapshot”
“The good thing is having ZFS snapshots as a safety net though.”
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“I use ZFS on both my desktop and laptop each with Linux”
Stability · 3
Users describe it as stable and mature, with several switching after bad Btrfs failures.
“I switched to ZFS and never Bad a Problem again.”
“I’ve found ZFS much more stable”
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“Native ZFS. Stable, mature, safe and with all the features you can dream of.”
Native encryption · 3
Built-in encryption avoids layering LUKS/dm-crypt and works on root from some installers.
“What made me decide to use ZFS instead is that Btrfs does not have [yet] transparent encryption”
“ZFS on root available from the installer -- encrypted even if that's your jam.”
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“I've been using encrypted datasets for years without problems.”
Send/receive backups · 3
Encrypted, compressed, incremental replication with zfs send is used for offsite backups.
“The best backup solution that I found is ZFS send”
“I use zfs sync snapshots in raw mode (-R)”
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“I use ZFS and do off site backups using rsync.net.”
Compression · 3
Transparent per-dataset compression such as lz4 and zstd saves space on the fly.
“ZFS successfully and transparently recompressed everything on the fly.”
“I have autosnapshots enabled, and I tune compression methods on specific datasets”
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“fs-level compression, I use ZFS bc Btrfs has massive contention problems with concurrent Rust builds”
Data integrity · 2
Checksums detect and fix bitrot transparently.
“I love my ZFS server as it handles all that transparently”
“The best backup solution that I found is ZFS send”
Caveats and dissent
Linux integration · 3
It is out-of-tree on Linux, and one user's kernel module silently failed to build and broke the system.
“Don't use ZFS on Linux. If you really want ZFS, run FreeBSD.”
“the zfs module situation: when I tried it, the module silently failed to build properly and this resulted in a broken system”
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“I also use a ZFS mirrored pool on SSDs for “hot” files”
Pool corruption · 2
A few users had pools that refused to mount read-write or crashed the kernel on mount.
“I used ZFS until it self-corrupted and refused to mount rw ever again.”
“I once had a ZFS get to a state where it would crash the kernel on mount”
Non-ECC RAM · 2
Users advise ECC or rigorous RAM testing because bad memory can cause on-disk changes.
“ZFS will actually modify your files on disk as a side effect of a read-only operation”
“I use and know ZFS is good but I'd prefer to run it on a machine supporting ECC.”
Memory use · 1
On macOS, one user notes the ARC takes memory away from the system.
“It is absolutely incredible technology.”
Often compared with
Who recommends it in their own words
Threads where it came up
- Btrfs/ZFS/bcachefs under workloads classic benchmarks skip 5 mentions
- Show HN: Uberblok – an interactive museum of ZFS internals 3 mentions
- How to Build a Minimal ZFS NAS Without Synology, QNAP, TrueNAS 3 mentions
- Don't throw away your old PC–it makes a better NAS than anything you can buy 3 mentions
- Custom home server built from spare parts 2 mentions
- Backups Aren't Simple 2 mentions
Data: zfs.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 45
“two of my three ZFS implementations are entirely local”
“Datto which gave us native encryption on ZFS (shout out to Tom for writing that!)”
“I've been using encrypted datasets for years without problems.”
“It is absolutely incredible technology.”
“I absolutely love ZFS. I use it on FreeBSD for all disks on the whole system”
“fs-level compression, I use ZFS bc Btrfs has massive contention problems with concurrent Rust builds”
“I used ZFS until it self-corrupted and refused to mount rw ever again.”
“ZFS will actually modify your files on disk as a side effect of a read-only operation”
“ZFS on root available from the installer -- encrypted even if that's your jam.”
“I switched to ZFS and never Bad a Problem again.”
“it never made it in — ZFS.”
“I've been using ZFS on my Linux servers for years and have pretty good experience with it.”
“I'm saying ZFS on another OS.”
“I use zfs sync snapshots in raw mode (-R)”
“I use ZFS and do off site backups using rsync.net.”
“I once had a ZFS get to a state where it would crash the kernel on mount”
“ZFS successfully and transparently recompressed everything on the fly.”
“The best backup solution that I found is ZFS send”
“It's a lovely filesystem”
“I highly recommend putting ZFS underneath, to help with deduplication.”
“I may actually hold on to ZFS datasets with mounting magic.”
“I’ve found ZFS much more stable”
“I have zfs snapshots and cloud backups should I want to revert”
“our workloads benefited from the trinity of Solaris' threading, ZFS tiered storage, and zones/containers”
“Debian zfs connected to 8 of the disks”
“the only place I use SLOG is with Optane devices in front of SATA/SAS flash.”
“ZFS works fine on root on Linux. I use it on multiple machines.”
“I have autosnapshots enabled, and I tune compression methods on specific datasets”
“zfs is a night and day compared to LVM/mdadm”
“I noticed that there are a lot of ZFS myths and cargo culting.”
“What made me decide to use ZFS instead is that Btrfs does not have [yet] transparent encryption”
“I'm setting up a FreeBSD server where ZFS was the natural choice, again snapshots, boot environments, native encryption and just maturity/reliability.”
“it has native support and ZBM is available in the community repo”
“The good thing is having ZFS snapshots as a safety net though.”
“There's Docker, OverlayFS, FUSE, ZFS or Btrfs snapshots?”
“porting NanoClaw to use FreeBSD jails and ZFS snapshots”
“ZFS mirroring for NAS”
“for Proxmox/VMs/Docker/ZFS, etc.”
“I just revert to an old zfs snapshot”
“JBOD that badboy into ZFS and you'll have something fast enough for most things (streaming)”
“I switched to ZFS with ZFSBootMenu[2] and never looked back.”
“I also use a ZFS mirrored pool on SSDs for “hot” files”
“Don't use ZFS on Linux. If you really want ZFS, run FreeBSD.”
“I use ZFS on both my desktop and laptop each with Linux”
“the zfs module situation: when I tried it, the module silently failed to build properly and this resulted in a broken system”