Editing Inode (section)

==Inlining==
It can make sense to store very small files in the inode itself to save both space (no data block needed) and lookup time (no further disk access needed). This file system feature is called inlining. The strict separation of inode and file data thus can no longer be assumed when using modern file systems.

If the data of a file fits in the space allocated for pointers to the data, this space can conveniently be used. For example, [[ext2]] and its successors store the data of symlinks (typically file names) in this way if the data is no more than 60 bytes ("fast symbolic links").<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/linux/lk/lk-7.html |title=The Linux kernel: Filesystems|work=tue.nl}}</ref>

[[Ext4]] has a file system option called <code>inline_data</code> that allows ext4 to perform inlining if enabled during file system creation. Because an inode's size is limited, this only works for very small files.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ext4.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Ext4_Disk_Layout#Inline_Data|title=Ext4 Disk Layout|work=kernel.org|access-date=August 18, 2013}}</ref>