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If ReFS is really in the Server version of 8, and if it really doesn't support sparse files, consider the implication of built-in deduplication. It does sparse
by sfoskett 15y ago
If ReFS is really in the Server version of 8, and if it really doesn't support sparse files, consider the implication of built-in deduplication. It does sparse files at a layer above the filesystem, along with dedupe and compression. Or, as mappu points out, ReFS could assume it's running on VHD/CSV, punting those features to a lower level.
Perhaps Microsoft is making a decision to focus the filesystem on being a simple storage engine and moving features into other modules (primarily) above or even below it?
- CPlatypus 15y agoDedup isn't quite the same as sparse files. If the filesystem is unaware of dedup, then it still has to allocate its own structures corresponding to the dedup'ed space, seeking to the next hole or next allocated block won't work (not that many applications are smart about holes or that MS didn't already suck in that area), etc. Dedup - even in its most absolutely simple form of just detecting zero blocks - does at least avoid the fatal problem of allocating actual disk space uselessly, but sparse files are still basically a filesystem problem and need to be treated as such.