What are differences between NTFS and ReFS?

Differences Between NTFS and ReFS

NTFS stands for New Technology File System.

ReFS stands for Resilient File System.

Microsoft has developed both file systems technologies for Windows OS.

Few major differences between NTFS and ReFS are as follows:

1. File Size Limit: NTFS supports file sizes up to 16 exabytes, while ReFS supports file sizes up to 262144 exabytes.

2. Scalability: We can use NTFS for small and large storage devices but in the case of large storage devices, need to use ReFS.

3. Release: In the mid-1990s, the NTFS file system was released and currently it is widely used in many small & large organizations but the ReFS was released in 2012 with Windows Server 2012 and is a new system.

4. Performance: For standard operations like R/W files, NTFS will be faster than ReFS but if the files are large in size or require high levels of parallel access, in this condition, ReFS will work better.

5. Compatibility: NTFS is compatible with major devices and software but as we know, ReFS is new technology & is designed for Windows Server environments.

6. Feature set: NTFS provides more features like compression, encryption, quotas, etc. but ReFS does not support all of these features.

7. Resiliency: ReFS is more resilient than NTFS. ReFS has features like checksum which detects and repairs data corruption and automatic data recovery from mirrored storage spaces.

8. Metadata handling: The approach to manage metadata in ReFS is totally different than NTFS, which enhances performance in certain scenarios.

Conclusion: The selection of file system (NTFS and ReFS) totally depends on the requirement of the system & load. As er aware, NTFS is widely used which provides more and more features. But ReFS is a new technology designed to manage large storage devices.

NTFS is a good option because of its compatibility, maturity, and performance advantages. 

For large-scale data storage and huge workloads, ReFS may offer good scalability and resiliency.