Both NTFS and ReFS work well with Hyper-V VM storage, so how do you choose from them? This article will introduce their pros and cons respectively, and compare ReFS vs NTFS to help you make the right choice.
I am planning on setting up a machine with windows 10 running storage spaces and just have a bunch of drives in it. And I wonder whether i should use ReFS or NTFS when I format the drives. Any assistance would be appreciated.
- Question from www.reddit.com
ReFS (Resilient File System) and NTFS (New Technology File System) are both file systems used in Windows operating systems. Every day, you generate or access large amounts of data that stored on disk in the form of files. A better file structure can provide greater accessibility, security, and optimal performance. That's why Windows introduced ReFS file system with Windows Server 2012 to iterate on NTFS.
That makes you now have 2 file system you can choose from, ReFS and NTFS. And both of them work well with type-1 hypervisor Hyper-V VM storage. However, they have some differences in terms of their features and capabilities. So, how do you choose NTFS or ReFS? This article will introduce them respectively and compare NTFS vs ReFS to help you make the right choice.
NTFS (New Technology File System), first introduced in 1993 with Windows NT operating system (OS) version 3.1, is a proprietary journaling file system for efficiently storing, organizing, and retrieving files on the hard disks.
With better scalability, interoperability, security, and performance, NTFS superseded FAT (File Allocation Table) as the preferred filesystem on Windows, and is supported in Linux and BSD as well. By using the convert command, Windows can convert FAT32/16/12 into NTFS without the need to rewrite all files
ReFS (Resilient File System), first introduced with Windows Server 2012, is an advanced file system type that can store large amounts of data in a safe way.
ReFS file system was intended to become the next generation file system after NTFS, therefore it addressed some of the issues that the NTFS system encounters. For example, the compatibility of different storage scenarios, data integrity with resiliency to corruption, and maximum data availability to scale to large data sets across diverse workloads efficiently.
While ReFS is made up from the current NTFS file system code and has borrowed most of its functionality from NTFS, they are still very different in terms of functionality and applicable scenarios. Therefore, ReFS is currently not a complete replacement for NTFS.
Comparing ReFS vs NTFS, there are 5 main differences:
Here is a table shows how ReFS vs NTFS are different in their features.
Feature |
NTFS |
ReFS |
BitLocker encryption |
+ |
+ |
Data Deduplication |
+ |
+ |
Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) support |
+ |
+ |
Soft links |
+ |
+ |
Failover cluster support |
+ |
+ |
Access-control lists |
+ |
+ |
USN journal |
+ |
+ |
Changes notifications |
+ |
+ |
Junction points |
+ |
+ |
Mount points |
+ |
+ |
Reparse points |
+ |
+ |
Named streams |
+ |
+ |
Volume snapshots |
+ |
+ |
File IDs |
+ |
+ |
Oplocks |
+ |
+ |
Sparse files |
+ |
+ |
Thin Provisioning |
+ (Storage Spaces only) |
+ |
Trim/Unmap |
+ (Storage Spaces only) |
+ |
Block clone |
|
+ |
Sparse VDL |
|
+ |
Mirror-accelerated parity |
|
+ |
Offloaded Data Transfer (ODX) |
+ |
|
File system compression |
+ |
|
File system encryption |
+ |
|
Transactions |
+ |
|
Hard links |
+ |
|
Object IDs |
+ |
|
Short names |
+ |
|
Extended attributes |
+ |
|
Disk quotas |
+ |
|
Bootable |
+ |
|
Page file support |
+ |
|
Supported on removable media |
+ |
|
Note: ReFS’s File-level snapshots are only available on Windows Server 2022 and later. For details, you can refer to Microsoft’s official document: Resilient File System (ReFS) overview
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As Microsoft’s proprietary file system, both NTFS and ReFS are widely used today. This article introduced what NTFS and ReFS are respectively, and compared ReFS vs NTFS to show the differences.
As the expected next generation of NTFS, ReFS are still not the perfect replacement for NTFS. They are very different in features which makes them suitable for different scenarios. If you are looking for a choice for your Hyper-V VM file-level storage, you may consider ReFS for its advanced features in enhancing performance and functionality of Hyper-V VM.