Windows 8.1 supports Resilient File System aks ReFS (codename “Protogon”). As WinFS project was cancelled ReFS is what we have as possible successor of NTFS in its early days. This file system become available in Windows Server 2012 and tightly connected with Storage Spaces technology. Window 8/8.1 also supports this file system (as well as other server side things like Hyper-V and Storage Spaces with some limitations).
But if you venture out to disk management on Windows 8.1 you most likely won’t see an option to format any of your drives to ReFS. This is because by default it is allowed on mirrored volumes only. But you may change this through registry settings. First you need to create new registry key “MiniNT” in the following location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSetControl
Next you should create a new DWORD value called “AllowRefsFormatOverNonmirrorVolume” and set it to 1. Reboot and you will be able to format your volumes as ReFS volumes even if they are not mirrored.
