IT abroad: Microsoft announced new file system ReFS

Microsoft Corp. has shown off its new file system, which is built on the foundations of NTFS – the most widely used, advanced, and feature rich file system for Windows in broad use for a decade. The new file system is called ReFS which stands for Resilient File System. In Windows 8, ReFS will be introduced as a part of Windows 8 Server and in the future as storage for clients.

ReFS will run with Windows 8’s Storage Spaces, a new feature in Microsoft’s forthcoming Windows 8 Client which enables to unite PCs into data storage pools. According to Microsoft, they have designed Storage Spaces and ReFS to complement each other, as two components of a “complete storage system”.

Steven Sinofsky, the President of the Windows Division at Microsoft, responsible for the development of Windows 8, says that ReFS will be implemented in a staged evolution of the feature – first as a storage system for Windows Server, and later as storage for clients.

ReFS boasts fail-safe features, in particular options which are intended to ensure file integrity during sudden power cut, disc failure or all forms of data corruption. Most of these options are expected to run on ReFS working in pair with Storage Spaces.