A
Linux filesystem that allows
Linux to be run on top of a
FAT partition. It is used so that the user does not have to
partition his drive in order to run
Linux. However, one can safely
partition without losing any data, such as by using
FIPS.
UMSDOS is slower, less stable, and less secure than the Linux native filesystem, ext2. It is also vulnerable to fragmentation, because the FAT filesystem fragments, and thus defragmentation programs need to be run in order to stop fragmentation. The ext2 filesystem is not vulnerable to such fragmentation. UMSDOS is also vulnerable to DOS/Windows viruses, whereas ext2 is not. Because UMSDOS puts the Linux files on the FAT partition, they are vulnerable to Windows viruses that infect files.