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What are main pros and cons of ZFS and WinFS filesystems ?

m1k4
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    For starters, ZFS exists, while WinFS is a myth. Are you sure you want to ask this type of question? –  Oct 12 '09 at 18:31
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    I'll assume that the OP means NTFS before voting to close, and until we get confirmation of otherwise. – Maximus Minimus Oct 12 '09 at 19:18

2 Answers2

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As per my comment above, it is hard to compare something that exists with which doesn't. As of 2006, WinFS was cancelled, and the current development is unknown. ZFS, on the other hand, is well and kicking.

3dinfluence
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    It's a pity too, WinFS looked rather neat. A relational filesystem would be interesting, even if it failed miserably. – Xorlev Oct 12 '09 at 18:57
  • WinFS wasn't cancelled, just "delayed" if you can call it that. They did say at the time that parts of it were moving to sql server and other parts were being left in the incubator. Most of the recent Filesystem has all been to support 2008R2 and virtual machines but you can bet that it is still ticking away in the background. They are doing lots with DesktopSearch integration and collecting *lots* of data with that. – Ryaner Oct 12 '09 at 20:39
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    Lets see, that essentially was the fs for Cairo, announced in 1993, to ship in 1995. I'm not holding my breath. Granted, file system development is hard, because to a lesser extent that just about anything, people don't like bugs. ZFS has been production ready for some time. MS has to ship it, people need to use it for a year or two (and given things like the NT 4 file move bug, or total data loss they just had for sidekicks, longer) before they will trust it for production. – Ronald Pottol Oct 12 '09 at 21:28
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Unfortunately ZFS is bound by the laws of reality. WinFS is only bound by the laws of marketing.

In this case WinFS is clearly the winner, depending on how gullible you are.

Joseph Kern
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