Windows NTFS Successor in the Works: ReFS

The Windows NTFS file system has been around since the original Windows NT was released way back in July 1993. It has proven to be a very resilient and capable file system and has had many evolutionary improvements made to it in that time. However, with the introduction of Windows 8, Microsoft is introducing its successor, initially in its server operating system version, but then migrating down to the client "desktop" versions. Called ReFS, it builds on the strengths of NTFS, particularly in the area of data integrity, with features such as integrity streams and disc scrubbing. It's also designed to not require taking offline if part of it become corrupted, allowing on-the-fly repairs to a live system. Crucially, it will of course maintain backward compatibility with NTFS.

Here are the key features of the new file system:

• Metadata integrity with checksums
  
• Integrity streams providing optional user data integrity
  
• Allocate on write transactional model for robust disk updates (also known as copy on write)
  
• Large volume, file and directory sizes
  
• Storage pooling and virtualization makes file system creation and management easy
  
• Data striping for performance (bandwidth can be managed) and redundancy for fault tolerance
  
• Disk scrubbing for protection against latent disk errors
  
• Resiliency to corruptions with "salvage" for maximum volume availability in all cases
  
• Shared storage pools across machines for additional failure tolerance and load balancing

There's an interesting and very detailed technical explanation of ReFS at the MSDN blog and it's recommended reading while clutching a hot cup of coffee.