Design Goals and Implementation of the
New High Performance File System
The High Performance File System (hereafter HPFS), which is making its first
appearance in the OS/2 operating system Version 1.2, had its genesis in the
network division of Microsoft and was designed by Gordon Letwin, the chief
architect of the OS/2 operating system. The HPFS has been designed to meet
the demands of increasingly powerful PC's, fixed disks, and networks for many
years to come and to serve as a suitable platform for object-oriented languages,
applications, and user interfaces.
The HPFS is a complex topic because it incorporates three distinct yet
interrelated file system issues. First, the HPFS is a way of organizing data
on a random access block storage device. Second, it is a software module that
translates file-oriented requests from an application program into more
primitive requests that a device driver can understand, using a variety of
creative techniques to maximize performance. Third, the HPFS is a practical
illustration of an important new OS/2 feature known as Installable File Systems.
This article introduces the three aspects of the HPFS. But first, it puts the
HPFS in perspective by reviewing some of the problems that led to the system's
existence.
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