ReFS

ReFS
Developer(s)Microsoft
Full nameResilient File System
Introduced1 August 2012; 12 years ago (2012-08-01)[1] with Windows Server 2012
Structures
Directory contentsB+ tree[2]
Limits
Max volume size35 petabytes[3]
Max file size35 petabytes[3]
Features
AttributesYes
Transparent
compression
No
Data deduplicationYes, since v3.2 debuting in 2016 v1709[4]
Copy-on-writeYes
Other
Supported
operating systems
Websitelearn.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-server/storage/refs/refs-overview

Resilient File System (ReFS),[6] codenamed "Protogon",[7] is a Microsoft proprietary file system introduced with Windows Server 2012 with the intent of becoming the "next generation" file system after NTFS.

ReFS was designed to overcome problems that had become significant over the years since NTFS was conceived, which are related to how data storage requirements have changed. These requirements arose from two major changes in storage systems and usage – the size of storage in use (large or massive arrays of multi-terabyte drives now common), and the need for continual reliability. As a result, the file system needs to be self-repairing (to prevent disk checking from being impractically slow or disruptive), along with abstraction or virtualization between physical disks and logical volumes.

The key design advantages of ReFS include automatic integrity checking and data scrubbing, elimination of the need for running chkdsk, protection against data degradation, built-in handling of hard disk drive failure and redundancy, integration of RAID functionality, a switch to copy/allocate on write for data and metadata updates, handling of very long paths and filenames, and storage virtualization and pooling, including almost arbitrarily sized logical volumes (unrelated to the physical sizes of the used drives).

  1. ^ Snover, Jeffrey (1 August 2012). "Windows Server 2012 released to manufacturing!". Windows Server Blog. Microsoft Corporation. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference B8_ReFS was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference TechNet was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Sarkar, Dona (13 July 2017). "Announcing Windows Server Insider Preview Build 16237". Windows Experience Blog. Microsoft. Archived from the original on 23 July 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  5. ^ "Windows 10 features and functionality removed in Windows 10". docs.microsoft.com. 30 January 2020. Archived from the original on 18 November 2019. Retrieved 23 February 2020. Creation ability will be available in the following editions only: Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 10 Pro for Workstations. Creation ability will be removed from all other editions. All other editions will have Read and Write ability.
  6. ^ Lucas, Martin (1 January 2013). "Windows Server 2012: Does ReFS replace NTFS? When should I use it?". Ask Premier Field Engineering (PFE) Platforms. Microsoft. TechNet blogs. Archived from the original on 2 June 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference zdnetrefsunveiled was invoked but never defined (see the help page).