A more enterprise server solution preferred by Linux administrators is the ZFS file system. ZFS also uses copy-on-write like Btrfs, which means that it takes a copy of a modified file instead of overwriting the original file on disk. The snapshots created from copy-on-write provide fault tolerance.

The Btrfs file system offers fault tolerance, but ZFS takes it a step further by giving administrators a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) system named RAID-Z. RAID-Z adds a feature for data storage spanning multiple disks, so a server with ZFS partitioning can process data from multiple disks much faster. Instead of waiting for a storage device to retrieve an entire file from one disk, RAID-Z lets the storage system simultaneously retrieve the file from multiple disks, which speeds up read times.

Every file system has limitations to the size of files it supports. The ZFS file system is made for servers, which usually need to store larger volumes of data. It’s one of the most scalable file systems offering 128-bit support, so it can store and quickly retrieve massive amounts of data. The maximum file size supported is 16 exabytes, and a ZFS partition supports up to 236 quadrillion zettabytes.

ZFS allows for more granular file access controls, so it also has hardened security for enterprise environments. The disadvantage is that ZFS security controls can be more difficult to manage. For the average user, the ZFS file system might be more difficult to manage than using the more standard Btrfs partitioning system.