LFCS Storage Management Practice Question
A storage administrator is preparing a 4 TB USB 3.0 external drive to hold large backup archives. The drive must be usable on Linux, Windows, and macOS workstations, and single files will occasionally exceed 4 GB. Which filesystem should be created on the single partition /dev/sdb1?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that any cross-platform filesystem will do and picking FAT32, forgetting its 4 GiB per-file limit.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
mkfs.exfat /dev/sdb1
exFAT was designed for flash and removable media and is supported out of the box by modern Linux, Windows, and macOS. It also has no 4 GB per-file ceiling, unlike FAT32, so it satisfies both the cross-platform and large-file requirements. The other filesystems either impose a size limit or lack native support on one of the required operating systems.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
mkfs.exfat /dev/sdb1
Why this is correct
exFAT is the only filesystem in this list natively read/written by current Linux, Windows, and macOS releases, and it supports files far larger than 4 GB, which FAT32 cannot. It is the correct choice for a shared external backup drive that must move between all three platforms without extra drivers.
- ✗
mkfs.vfat -F 32 /dev/sdb1
Why it's wrong here
FAT32 is cross-platform, but it has a hard 4 GiB per-file limit. Since the scenario states some single files will exceed 4 GB, a backup archive larger than that will fail to write. exFAT avoids this limit while keeping the same broad compatibility.
- ✗
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb1
Why it's wrong here
ext4 handles files larger than 4 GB and is native to Linux, but Windows and macOS do not include ext4 drivers by default. Since the drive must be readable on Windows and macOS workstations, ext4 does not satisfy the cross-platform requirement stated in the scenario.
- ✗
mkfs.xfs /dev/sdb1
Why it's wrong here
XFS is an excellent Linux filesystem with large-file support, but Windows and macOS cannot mount it natively. The requirement is that the drive be usable on Windows and macOS workstations, so XFS would force third-party drivers and is therefore wrong for this scenario.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Linux Foundation exam blueprint
This LFCS practice question is part of Courseiva's free Linux Foundation certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the LFCS exam.