How to use Resilient File System (ReFS) on Windows 10

How to use Resilient File System (ReFS) on Windows 10

Like on any other operating system, Windows features a file system to control how data is stored and retrieved from disk.

However, even though NTFS provided us with many performance, reliability, and advanced features you can't find on other file system, NTFS has been designed years ago. Today, we face new storage challenges that NTFS just can't handle, and to overcome the limitations Microsoft created from the ground up a new file system called ``ReFS'' ( Resilient File System ).

The new file system is also built on the foundation of NTFS, which means that it's compatible with the most critical features found in the old file system while introducing new storage technologies.

While ReFS will primarily benefit large corporations with large data centers, the new file system is also very useful for users who work with large amounts of data, such as photographers, video editors, and others.

With this in mind, in this Windows 10 guide, we'll walk you through the steps to try ReFS on your computer, and we also provide the information you need to know moving to the new file system.

The tool that makes it all happen is Storage Spaces, which is Microsoft's storage virtualization technology that allows you to group multiple drives together to create a Storage Pool, which then you can use to create a new storage using the new file system.

On File System, select**REFS** from the drop-down menu.

* **Compatibility:** Maintain support for key NTFS features to offer compatibility, as it's a widely adopted file system.

* **Resiliency:** The new file system can provide full resiliency architecture when it's implemented using Storage Spaces on Windows.

It's important to note that you can't use the new file system on a boot drive (the drive where you have Windows installed); it's only suitable for drives you'll be using exclusively for storage.

You can't use ReFS on removable drives, such as USB flash drives, and there is not a mechanism to convert a drive formatted using ReFS to another file system. However, you can always backup your data to another drive, format the ReFS storage using another file system (e.g., exFAT, FAT32, NTFS), and then restore the data.

If you move to the new file system, you'll find a number of features inherit from NTFS, including access-control list for security, BitLocker encryption, USN journal, mount points, reparse points,junction points, volume snapshots, change notifications, symbolic links, file IDs, and oplocks.

In addition, even if it worked, you wouldn't be able to take advantage of data resiliency, which is one of the main features of the file system, as such I'm not including the tweak in this guide.

What do you think about Microsoft's new file system?