Exit NTFS, Enter ReFS.

Microsoft officials take the wraps off a new file system for both Windows and Windows Server 8.

There has been talk about a new file system in the upcoming Windows client and server thanks to details that came out at BUILD, but up to now, Microsoft has been quiet. That ended today with a blog post on the new file system.

The Resilient File System, or ReFS, will be introduced with Windows Server 8 before it is migrated to the desktop, just like Microsoft did with NTFS, according to a post on the Building Windows blog by Surendra Verma, a development manager on the Windows Storage and File System team.

NTFS, the New Technology File System, first shipped on Windows NT 3.1 when it was introduced in 1995 but didn't make its way to the desktop until Microsoft retired the Windows 9x code and shipped Windows XP in 2001.

Verma said there are multiple goals around ReFS:

• It will be compatible with a subset of NTFS features that are widely used while cutting out features that are of "limited value."
• It will verify and auto-correct data corruption. Data will be verified and, when possible, corrected automatically before being written.
• Optimize for extreme scale. Use scalable structures for everything.
• The ability to never have to take the file system offline. Salvage the maximum amount of data possible, all done live.
• Provide a full end-to-end resiliency architecture when used in conjunction with the Storage Spaces feature, which was co-designed and built in conjunction with ReFS.

It's all outlined in one very long update.

• Windows
• Microsoft
• file system
• ntfs
• ReFS
• server
• Windows