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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.
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warptek2010
January 18, 2012 at 12:35am
So does this mean it will eventually find it's way on to desktop computers or not?
aarcane
January 17, 2012 at 1:43pm
Sounds like Microsoft is ripping off zfs in more ways than one. Interesting.
Cregan89
January 17, 2012 at 3:37pm
I don't think I'd call it "ripping off ZFS" as resiliency, performance, and increased storage size are the goals of File Systems as a whole.
That's like saying Honda ripped Ferrari off because they increased the speed of the 2012 Civic.
thetechchild
January 17, 2012 at 10:36pm
But it does mean that Microsoft is way behind the times and is only catching up now (much like the iPhone 4S is already outdated compared to the best Android smartphones).
LatiosXT
January 18, 2012 at 10:12am
So is Apple, since HFS+ is pretty damn old. But comparing features to the needs/wants of the people now is kind of silly. Taking the other guy's example, you could say Honda is way behind on the times because they don't have a car that matches the current specs of Ferrari's or Lamborghini's.
And it doesn't affect most servers because they don't run Windows Server anyway.
