# exfatprogs 1.4.4 accelerates exFAT full format with BLKZEROOUT, adds I/O profiling

> **Key takeaway:** exfatprogs 1.4.4 speeds up mkfs.exfat full formats by using BLKZEROOUT for hardware-accelerated zeroing on SCSI and NVMe devices, while adding optional I/O statistics for profiling.

**Published:** 2026-11-10T10:18:02+00:00 
**Source:** Phoronix Benchmarks & Drivers 
**Category:** kernel-os 
**Canonical URL:** https://fosswire.org/news/exfatprogs-144-accelerates-exfat-full-format-with-blkzeroout.html 

## Summary
The exfatprogs 1.4.4 release updates the user-space utilities for managing exFAT filesystems on Linux, with the most notable improvement being faster full-format operations in mkfs.exfat. The tool now leverages the BLKZEROOUT ioctl to offload zeroing to storage hardware that supports SCSI WRITE_SAME or NVMe Write Zeroes, rather than writing zeros from user space. It also batches zeroing operations more aggressively and reduces page cache pollution during formatting through POSIX_FADV_NOREUSE on supported systems.

Beyond performance, this release introduces optional I/O statistics collection for profiling read, write, discard, zero-out, and sync operations. A number of bug fixes are also included. The changes affect users who format SD cards, USB drives, or other removable media with exFAT on Linux, particularly those working with large-capacity devices where full formats are time-consuming.

## What changes in exfatprogs 1.4.4
- **BLKZEROOUT acceleration:** mkfs.exfat now uses the BLKZEROOUT block device ioctl for full formats, delegating zero-fill operations to storage firmware when SCSI WRITE_SAME or NVMe Write Zeroes is available, reducing CPU overhead and bus traffic.
- **Larger zeroing batches:** The formatter now selects larger batch sizes for zeroing operations, amortizing setup overhead across more blocks.
- **Page cache efficiency:** On systems with POSIX_FADV_NOREUSE support, mkfs.exfat reduces page cache pollution during full format by advising the kernel not to retain formatted blocks in cache.
- **I/O profiling infrastructure:** New optional I/O statistics track read, write, discard, zero-out, and sync operations, enabling performance analysis and regression detection.
- **Progress output refinements:** Quiet and trace progress reporting has been improved for better visibility during long-running format operations.

## Why it matters
For Linux users formatting exFAT media—especially photographers, embedded developers, and Steam Deck owners managing SD cards—the reduced format times on modern NVMe and SCSI storage meaningfully improve workflow efficiency. The addition of I/O statistics also aids developers and distribution maintainers in benchmarking and validating storage stack performance across kernel and hardware generations.