Microsoft Reveals Next Generation File System in Windows 8 (for Servers)

Posted 01/17/2012 at 11:09am | by Paul Lilly

6

Comments

Print

Much of the focus on Windows 8 has been centered on the Metro UI and whether or not it will translate well to non-touch devices, like your typical desktop PC or notebook computer. Dig a little underneath the hood, however, and you'll find a nifty nugget in the form of a next generation file system. It's called ReFS (Resilient File System), a newly engineered file system built on the foundations of NTFS.

It's going to be introduced only as part of Windows Server 8, which is a bit of a bummer for home users, but it's also the same approach Microsoft has taken each time it's introduced a new file system, the company said in a blog post.

Designed from the ground up, ReFS maintains a high level of compatibility with a subset of NTFS features. In case it's not obvious by the name, ReFS is intended to be more resilient and features meta data integrity with checksums; support for large volume, file, and directory sizes; data striping for performance; disk scrubbing for protection against latent disk errors; and a whole bunch of other things outlined in great detail here.