ReFS volume appears RAW (version doesn't match expected value) after Windows Update

[MikeLabatt]

After Windows Update last night, Windows Server 2019 wouldn't mount a storage space volume as ReFS (it appears as RAW). The error in the ReFS event log is "ReFS failed to mount the volume. Version 1.2 doesn't match expected value 3.4" No issues that I can see at the storage space level (it is a mirrored disk). The volume was working fine before Windows Update and the reboot. Another ReFS volume still works fine after the update.

Any clues? I could not find this error mentioned anywhere else. Thanks.

[#2]

I have been look for an answer to this for over 2 years now and it looks I have found a light at the end of a long tunnel

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/refsutil

I have been running Storage spaces since day one and I would have thought that MS would have built into the OS upgrade process a method to upgrade there own ReFS drives during the upgrade from OS to OS but I guess not. 

But they do have this Util and I am now running it with the hope of recovery.

@MikeLabatt 

[#3]

With all respect, @thepierce I don't think that ReFSUtil is the solution to the problem discussed in this thread, which boils down to a ReFS version incompatibility. ReFSUtil won't do a major in-place ReFS version upgrade.

The best way I found to solve the problem is to copy (e.g. with RoboCopy) all data from the old ReFS volume to a newly formatted ReFS volume (i.e. newer ReFS version), using an operating system where the old ReFS version is still supported.

It is of course regrettable that this issue came upon us with no checks or warnings and that the workaround requires new disks, and even more so that some people were led to believe that their data was lost, and that some managed to corrupt the data in the attempt of "recovering" it.

ReFS is a good file system, and because it is fairly new (compared to NTFS) I can understand that features are sometimes added that require a newly formatted ReFS volume. These constant breaking changes may even be a reason why they pulled it from mainstream Windows 10/11, though I see work being done to bring it back. What is less understandable is the fact that the deprecation of older ReFS versions comes with no warnings upon a simple Windows Update or upgrade. This happened in 2022 with KB5009557, KB5009624, etc. on the Windows Server side, and then again on some client systems who were prompted to update their Windows 10 to Windows 11. These are perfectly recognizable situations. If a dialog appeared telling the user what they need to do before a volume disappears, we would not be spending so much time on these threads :)

Please, Microsoft, give ReFS the same love you gave NTFS, which in its days had in-place conversion support, while never suffering from breaking changes that (without warning) required copying entire volumes just to keep accessing the data. 

[#4]

This is only a one-time issue for ReFS from version 2012 vs 2016 or later. There is no upgrade path.
With all due respect, I join your point it is a problem, and i would recommend Gurusquad GSCopy over robocopy for best performance. ReFS is a very settled and mature filesystem meanwhile.

[#5]

> I don't think that ReFSUtil is the solution to the problem discussed in this thread, which boils down to a ReFS version incompatibility.

I agree. I tried a few ReFS recovery tools before I was able to roll back the KB that caused this mess and they are all terrible - searching for file signatures in volumes affected by this issue is very ineffective. I had a few TBs of data and recovery tools would claim they found 2-3 times of the original amount and they restored deleted files, confused directories, etc. I didn't try refsutil, but anything looking for signatures would probably be just as terrible.

Unlike many in this thread, I used ReFS on Win10, which was available in the original Win10 distribution. It took time to find that KB to uninstall, but once I did, I got my volumes back. Finding and uninstalling that KB is the best course of action, although it might be tricky after so many updates piling up since.

[#6]

@GKrem 

After almost attempting a FS repair, I found someone on reddit that mentioned your post. This saved me some headache. I tried to passthru a device and changed this option to TRUE. Changing it to FALSE and it came right back. Thank you. 

[#7]

Here is a new one, used external USB 2Tb drive with ReFS on Windows 10 for a year+ as some old CDs/DVDs backup
No issues
This PC has multiple OS installed (various 10, and 11)
It must have happened that I had the drive attached to 11 when some usual upgrade happened. And it also upgraded ReFS to version 3.9 (as confirmed by fsutil fsinfo refsinfo F: )
Now this dis is no longer usable in Windows 10 as per this: https://gist.github.com/0xbadfca11/da0598e47dd643d933dc

So the issue is not limited to Server 2012 etc
It is just a mess all together!

And another update is coming:

Microsoft silently updates Windows 11 ReFS file system version in latest Canary build - Neowin

[#8]

This one is different, though. The original issue was that Windows failed to upgrade ReFS volumes under certain conditions (e.g. portable drives), so as new KB's and releases piled up, Windows stopped recognizing the volume and there was no way to get the data back without uninstalling the culprit KB or attaching the drive to an older Windows machine.

What you are describing is the opposite - Windows upgrades ReFS version automatically, causing ReFS volumes to be unreadable on older Windows releases, but you can still access your data on Windows 11.

I suggest moving your backup data to an NTFS volume. Less headache.

[#9]

Correct on both counts!