In Oracle Linux 8, you can create XFS file systems by using the Reflink feature. This feature reduces disk space consumption and copies files faster. For example, if you use a reflink-aware tool to copy a directory tree, the files in the copy share disk space with the original. It takes much less time make a reflink copy of the directory tree than to create a regular copy of a file system. In addition, no added storage is used.

Note that the reflink feature is enabled by default in Oracle Linux 8 when formatting by using the mkfs.xfs command.

To begin working with XFS's reflink support, do the following steps:

1. Format a file system:

   sudo mkfs.xfs /dev/sda1

   meta-data=/dev/sda1              isize=512    agcount=4, agsize=6553600 blks
            =                       sectsz=512   attr=2, projid32bit=1
            =                       crc=1        finobt=1, sparse=1, rmapbt=0
            =                       reflink=1
   data     =                       bsize=4096   blocks=26214400, imaxpct=25
            =                       sunit=0      swidth=0 blks
   naming   =version 2              bsize=4096   ascii-ci=0, ftype=1
   log      =internal log           bsize=4096   blocks=12800, version=2
            =                       sectsz=512   sunit=0 blks, lazy-count=1
   realtime =none                   extsz=4096   blocks=0, rtextents=0

   Note:

   If you don't see the exact phrase reflink=1 in the mkfs command output, then the system is too old and the feature wouldn't work on XFS.

2. Mount the file system:

   sudo mount /dev/sda1 /storage

   The files system is now ready to absorb new files.

For a detailed demonstration on using the reflink feature, see https://blogs.oracle.com/linux/xfs-data-block-sharing-reflink.