Windows Server 8 to Get a New File System: ReFS
Microsoft will be introducing a new file system with Windows 8 Server, called ReFS, which is built on top of the existing NTFS, but will deliver new features for scale and prevent data corruption.
ReFS, short for Resilient File System, will initially debut with Windows 8 Server, but is expected to make its way through to Windows 8 client system to support the full feature set of Storage Spaces, which will allow users to create storage pools from multiple physical and virtual storage devices.
According to Microsoft, ReFS will be an always-online file system "for the next decade or more" that is architected for "extreme scale" with large volume, file and directory sizes, as well as data verification and auto-correction via checksums while maintaining compatibility with a "wide subset of widely adopted" NTFS features.
ReFS will support a maximum size of 4 PB per storage pool path and file lengths of up to 32,000 (unicode) characters, up to 2^64 (18,446,744,100,000,000,000 or about 18 quintillion) directories in a storage volume, and up to 2^64 files in a single directory. ReFS also supports, in theory, to a maximum volume size of 2^78 bytes, as Windows stack addressing is limited to 2^64 bytes, which translates to 16,384 PB. The file size limit is 2^64-1 bytes.
REFS's most critical feature, however, may be its ability to answer data corruption on-the-fly, as all ReFS metadata is check-summed across multiple volumes (in storage spaces environments), which enables the technology to detect disk corruptions. If the user chooses to activate file checksums (integrity streams) as well, ReFS will always give preference to the original file over the newer file. "This allocate-on-write technique ensures that pre-existing data is not lost due to the new write," wrote Surendra Verma, a development manager on Microsoft's Storage and File System team. "The checksum update is done atomically with the data write, so that if power is lost during the write, we always have a consistently verifiable version of the file available whereby corruptions can be detected authoritatively."
Just like NTFS, Microsoft will be testing and deploying ReFS in server environments initially. However, its feature may have true advantages in combined server-client environment, especially if we include cloud-computing services and storage pools. Expect ReFS to become available on your desktop and notebook PC in the foreseeable future as Verma noted that ReFS will be "the next massively deployed file system."
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Does it support files with names greater than 256 characters long? I often have to rename files (web pages) that I download because their names being outrageously long that some are up to 384 characters long. Web masters should consider article numbers or a web page naming scheme that isn't a directory or a long title and directory -_-
I wonder how much better win serv 8 is compared to 2003 and 2008 R2.
Yep. Interesting to see if we see full implementation of this in win8 servicepack or in win9.
In anyway nice upgrade, that will have greater impact later, when it is properly tested and allowed to use allso in boot sector.
hope it consumes lower ram and cpu..
"file lengths of up to 32,000 (unicode) characters"
Uh, am I missing something or is this a typo.
What is a 'file length' ?
Do they mean file NAME or Sector size ?
Does it support files with names greater than 256 characters long? I often have to rename files (web pages) that I download because their names being outrageously long that some are up to 384 characters long.
Uh, am I missing something or is this a typo.What is a 'file length' ?Do they mean file NAME or Sector size ?
"path and file (name) lengths of up to 32,000 (unicode) characters"
Other relevant info from the ReFS blog:
"Q) Can I boot from ReFS in Windows Server 8?
No, this is not implemented or supported.
Q) Can ReFS be used on removable media or drives?
No, this is not implemented or supported.
Q) What semantics or features of NTFS are no longer supported on ReFS?
The NTFS features we have chosen to not support in ReFS are: named streams, object IDs, short names, compression, file level encryption (EFS), user data transactions, sparse, hard-links, extended attributes, and quotas."
Other relevant info from the ReFS blog:"Q) Can I boot from ReFS in Windows Server 8?No, this is not implemented or supported.Q) Can ReFS be used on removable media or drives?No, this is not implemented or supported.Q) What semantics or features of NTFS are no longer supported on ReFS?The NTFS features we have chosen to not support in ReFS are: named streams, object IDs, short names, compression, file level encryption (EFS), user data transactions, sparse, hard-links, extended attributes, and quotas."
As with any new file system, it takes time to become adopted. NTFS was not fully adopted until late into XPs release, some people were still using FAT32.
Honestly though it looks interesting. Looks more geared towards servers, as NTFS does what we need for DT but maybe it will incorporate a few things from the now dead WINFS.....
What 'were' some people maddeningly remain on Xp FAT32.
Just curious, how is this done "atomically" , "The checksum update is done atomically..."? Will we be using quantum computing with windows 8?
Looking at the changes they're making going from win 7 to 8...I'm getting a very strong feeling that Win 9 will turn out to be a master of all trades...great for power users, great for gamers, great for consumption devices and great for servers/enterprises...I mean, they'll have some teething troubles with Win 8 as they did with Vista, but they'll refine it in the end.
)
Win 9 will hopefully spur Apple into make a better OS too...but i know they'll be happy with a blown up version of a mobile OS so hopefully Mac OS goes extinct...long live Winux! (or Lindows
I will be using FAT32 until Western Digital stops making formating options for it ! Or I buy disks with this parallel recording system.......
Does it support files with names greater than 256 characters long? I often have to rename files (web pages) that I download because their names being outrageously long that some are up to 384 characters long. Web masters should consider article numbers or a web page naming scheme that isn't a directory or a long title and directory -_- I wonder how much better win serv 8 is compared to 2003 and 2008 R2.
I don't know about file NAME lengths larger than 256 characters, but file PATHS longer than 255 or 256 characters is very annoying in windows 7 because Explorer throws a fit when the path is this long. So, I use Total Commander. I hope Win8 (with regular NTFS) supports longer path lengths!
I don't understand the graphs of NTFS and ReFS. Can anyone explain?
I heard about this 4 days ago. Yawn.
I heard about this 4 days ago. Yawn.
Then dont click on it. you had a choice sir...
"file lengths of up to 32,000 (unicode) characters"Uh, am I missing something or is this a typo.What is a 'file length' ?Do they mean file NAME or Sector size ?
i think they mean the whole length like C:\windows\system32\123.sys
or maybe filename who knows
"REFS's most critical feature, however, may be its ability to answer data corruption on-the-fly, as all ReFS metadata is check-summed across multiple volumes"
Awesome for servers but hopefully nill performance hit, can't wait to see storage benchmarks.
if it wanst a file system and just a feature, i would get win8 in a heartbeat for 32k character limit, constantly have to rename crap as it stands because of long names.
"file lengths of up to 32,000 (unicode) characters"Uh, am I missing something or is this a typo.What is a 'file length' ?Do they mean file NAME or Sector size ?
"c:\someHugeDirectory\someHugeDirectory\myFolder\myFile.mp3" That's the path.
Currently windows only supports 256 characters from c: through .mp3...
Ive run into issue with this at work when people want their file named "customer's lastname, customers first name, customers DOB, visit type.pdf" If I were to try to export that to a server from my local pc it would have to be something like "z:\someHugeDirectory\someHugeDirectory\someHugeDirectory\someHugeDirectory\finalDirectory\customer's lastname, customers first name, customers DOB, visit type.pdf" So as you can see it runs out of characters fast and my file name ends up being truncated or the program wont export it at all. This will stop that
"c:\someHugeDirectory\someHugeDirectory\myFolder\myFile.mp3" That's the path. Currently windows only supports 256 characters from c: through .mp3... Ive run into issue with this at work when people want their file named "customer's lastname, customers first name, customers DOB, visit type.pdf" If I were to try to export that to a server from my local pc it would have to be something like "z:\someHugeDirectory\someHugeDirectory\someHugeDirectory\someHugeDirectory\finalDirectory\customer's lastname, customers first name, customers DOB, visit type.pdf" So as you can see it runs out of characters fast and my file name ends up being truncated or the program wont export it at all. This will stop that
Yes, I figured something along the filename/path thing.
Also I rarely use long filenames myself. Programming background... lazy, we hate to type long variables :-)
and before someone yells CUT and PASTE... I am the generation well before cut and paste. I speak peek and poke and old habits die hard :-)
oops.. sorry.. made the wrong post..
Yes, I figured something along the filename/path thing.Also I rarely use long filenames myself. Programming background... lazy, we hate to type long variables :-)and before someone yells CUT and PASTE... I am the generation well before cut and paste. I speak peek and poke and old habits die hard :-)
out of curiosity, how many programs use more than 46656 files?
you could easily name them aaa, aab, aac, aad, aae... ect for a long time before you would ever need a 4th letter, and that would give you 1679616 file head room...
thats figured useing these keys
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890
Screw whatever filesystem NTFS is decent enough, whats more important is the Crash issue. Microsoft should have create a OS kernel that is independent from any application crashes. Even in win7, if my program crashes I still cant Crtl-Alt-del terminate it because it crash my window7 as well. Get me a windows that are completely able to Crtl-Alt-Del to terminate all the crashed programs i throw at it.
I hope this will also address the infection of pesky virus that infect .exe and .dll files.
out of curiosity, how many programs use more than 46656 files?you could easily name them aaa, aab, aac, aad, aae... ect for a long time before you would ever need a 4th letter, and that would give you 1679616 file head room... thats figured useing these keysabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890
Ahem, when I said 'short' names I did not mean a,b,c of course. Descriptive is ok, just not 256 characters long. That's not descriptive, that's a short story
Sounds like ZFS... hmm...
now i imagine spam files of unspeakable namelength
Programming background... lazy, we hate to type long variables :-)
out of curiosity, how many programs use more than 46656 files?you could easily name them aaa, aab, aac, aad, aae... ect for a long time before you would ever need a 4th letter, and that would give you 1679616 file head room... thats figured useing these keys abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890
Yes, but then you have to remember the difference between abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890 and abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567901 on your own.
will you be able to see folder sizes in win8? you'd think they'd have done that a long time ago
after over than decade, they change the filesystem.