--- title: NFS vs SMB: You Do Not Have to Use NFS on Linux #linux... description: A common misconception is that Linux desktop users must use NFS for network file sharing. In practice, SMB is often the better choice for desktop and client... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/nfs-vs-smb-you-do-not-have-to-use-nfs-on-linux-linux-smb-nas-truenas-42vceafgq twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: NFS vs SMB: You Do Not Have to Use NFS on Linux #linux #smb #NAS #truenas | daily.dev og:description: A common misconception is that Linux desktop users must use NFS for network file sharing. In practice, SMB is often the better choice for desktop and client... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/nfs-vs-smb-you-do-not-have-to-use-nfs-on-linux-linux-smb-nas-truenas-42vceafgq og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/42vCEAFgq.png og:image:alt: NFS vs SMB: You Do Not Have to Use NFS on Linux #linux #smb #NAS #truenas og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # NFS vs SMB: You Do Not Have to Use NFS on Linux #linux #smb #NAS #truenas **[Lawrence Systems](https://daily.dev/sources/lawrencesystems)** · 1 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A common misconception is that Linux desktop users must use NFS for network file sharing. In practice, SMB is often the better choice for desktop and client scenarios because it handles per-user authentication, works natively across Windows, Mac, and Linux, and respects existing permissions. Performance differences between NFS and SMB on modern, properly tuned networks are negligible. NFS is better suited for server-to-server use cases like hypervisors accessing datastores or trusted Linux-to-Linux storage sharing. The recommendation: choose based on the use case, not the operating system. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [I stopped choosing between SMB, NFS, and iSCSI, and my NAS finally makes sense](https://daily.dev/posts/i-stopped-choosing-between-smb-nfs-and-iscsi-and-my-nas-finally-makes-sense-4jrfrbsge) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [How to Set Up an NFS Mount on Ubuntu \(Step-by-Step Guide\)](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-set-up-an-nfs-mount-on-ubuntu-step-by-step-guide--djsnnlsya) · DigitalOcean Community · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Linux 7.2 To Better Communicate File-System Casefolding For Helping Windows NFS & More](https://daily.dev/posts/linux-7-2-to-better-communicate-file-system-casefolding-for-helping-windows-nfs-more-ixp0ekx2h) · Phoronix · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [NFS Improvements Arrive For Linux 7.3](https://daily.dev/posts/nfs-improvements-arrive-for-linux-7-3-tatk8snya) · Phoronix · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/nfs-vs-smb-you-do-not-have-to-use-nfs-on-linux-linux-smb-nas-truenas-42vceafgq) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"NFS vs SMB: You Do Not Have to Use NFS on Linux #linux #smb #NAS #truenas","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/nfs-vs-smb-you-do-not-have-to-use-nfs-on-linux-linux-smb-nas-truenas-42vceafgq","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/nfs-vs-smb-you-do-not-have-to-use-nfs-on-linux-linux-smb-nas-truenas-42vceafgq"},"datePublished":"2026-06-07T13:33:05.564Z","dateModified":"2026-06-07T13:33:24.255Z","description":"A common misconception is that Linux desktop users must use NFS for network file sharing. 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