Blog: Resilient File System (ReFS) in Windows Server 8

Windows Server 8

Cost-conscious storage administrators will want to note a feature in Windows Server 2012, popularly known as “Windows Server 8,” called Resilient File System (ReFS). Working with Storage Space, another Windows Server 2012 feature that provides data protection similar to RAID arrays, Resilient File System (ReFS) makes the use of commodity disks for storage more feasible. Organizations can reduce their expenses by safely storing and protecting their data, regardless of the underlying hardware and software stack. Resilient File System (ReFS) relies on existing NTFS code to ensure strong compatibility and offers data integrity and availability. For example, when the system is used with a mirrored Storage Space, corruption of either metadata or user data can be repaired automatically by using the mirror copy in Storage Spaces. Corrupt files are deleted and restored from the backup. Even better, repairs are localized to the area of corruption and are done online, eliminating the burdensome need to take a volume offline for repairs.

Moreover, Resilient File System (ReFS) supports petabytes of storage, making it a highly scalable solution able to meet burgeoning storage needs well into the future. As a result, enterprises, large and small, can use the file server with a JBOD configuration with Serial ATA (SATA) or Serially Attached SCSI (SAS) drives for storage that is both safe and cost-effective.

Resilient File System (ReFS) does have some limits. You cannot boot with it and the file system is not supported on removable media.  Resilient File System (ReFS) also does not offer data deduplication, but third-party dedupe solutions will continue to work.