maharmstone/btrfs
Btrfs
Btrfs for Windows is a kernel-mode driver and filesystem manager that enables read and write access to Btrfs formatted drives on Windows operating systems. It implements the Linux Btrfs on-disk format, providing a bridge for native filesystem interaction including a dedicated integration for the Windows Subsystem for Linux.
The project distinguishes itself through an identity mapping layer that translates Linux user and group IDs into Windows security identifiers to maintain file ownership and permissions. It further integrates with the Windows environment via a shell extension for managing subvolumes and snapshots directly through the system interface.
The software covers a broad range of storage capabilities, including RAID array management, volume resizing, and filesystem initialization. It provides data integrity tools such as scrubbing and trim operations, alongside disk space optimization through zlib, LZO, and Zstd compression.
The driver is compatible with x64, ARMv7, and ARM64 hardware architectures.
Features
- BTRFS Filesystem Management - Provides native read and write access to Btrfs formatted drives on Windows, including support for sparse files and symlinks.
- On-Disk Format Implementations - Implements the Linux Btrfs on-disk format to allow native reading and writing of volumes on Windows.
- Kernel-Mode Implementations - Executes filesystem operations within the Windows kernel for direct integration with the I/O subsystem.
- Metadata Pass-through Layers - Forwards filesystem metadata between the Windows driver and the Linux subsystem to maintain environment compatibility.
- Windows Linux Integration - Enables native Linux environment interaction by passing filesystem metadata to the Windows Subsystem for Linux.
- Identity Mapping Layers - Associates Linux user and group IDs with Windows security identifiers to maintain file ownership and permissions.
- WSL Metadata Pass-through - Provides a bridge that passes Linux metadata to the Windows Subsystem for Linux to enable native filesystem interaction.
- Subvolume and Snapshot Control - Controls the creation and snapshotting of subvolumes through a shell extension or command-line interface.
- RAID Array Lifecycle Management - Enables the configuration of data redundancy and performance by setting up various RAID levels for storage disks.
- Btrfs Volume Configurations - Allows adjustment of volume behavior, including read-only modes and compression levels, via registry settings.
- Storage Volume Resizing - Supports expanding, shrinking, adding, or removing physical devices within an existing filesystem.
- Filesystem Health Maintenance - Detects and fixes data corruption through scrubbing and optimizes SSD performance with trim operations.
- Filesystem Initialization - Provides utility tools to initialize and create new Btrfs storage volumes.
- Snapshot and Subvolume Management - Creates and controls filesystem subvolumes and snapshots on Windows to back up or migrate data.
- Subvolume Controllers - Provides a shell extension and command-line interface for managing Btrfs snapshots and subvolumes.
- Cross-Platform Filesystem Interoperability - Maintains filesystem health and detects corruption using Btrfs scrubbing and trim operations on Windows.
- Filesystem Compression Optimizers - Implements zlib, LZO, and Zstd compression algorithms to optimize disk space usage.
- Shell Extensions - Integrates custom subvolume and snapshot management commands directly into the Windows File Explorer context menus.
- Extended File Attributes - Manages access control lists and user identities using extended file attributes.
- Filesystem Identity Mappings - Translates Linux user and group IDs into Windows security identifiers to maintain consistent file ownership.
- Windows Storage Managers - Manages the creation, resizing, and RAID configuration of Btrfs volumes on Windows.
