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NTFS was not an innovative file system. It has just used several innovations introduced earlier by HPFS.

The High-Performance File System, a.k.a. HPFS, has been included in OS/2 1.2, which was launched in November 1989.

HPFS was a very innovative file system (its chief architect was Gordon Letwin). It has introduced the Extended File Attributes. It had directories implemented with B+ trees, like IBM VSAM (introduced at some time between 1973 and 1978). It had long file names and Access-Control Lists, like the Multics FS (1965). It used cylinder groups like the Berkeley FFS (1983). It used file extents, like the SGI EFS (1988).

Among the UNIX file systems, the SGI XFS (1993, almost simultaneous with NTFS) has been the first which has added all the innovations introduced by HPFS.




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