Industry observers note that but often it’s memory and file access that slow things down. This is precisely where a so-called “dev drive” can help. This refers to a volume introduced by Microsoft based on ReFS (Resilient File System). You might be inclined to blame insufficient graphics performance for a Windows system’s failure to hit its limit during tech industry.
Industry observers note that this suits modern platform releases, which are constantly reloading, unpacking, and discarding textures, shaders, configuration files, and streaming assets. In practice, this manifests itself primarily in shorter loading times, fewer I/O-related reloads, and overall more stable asset processing. A dev drive is optimized for many simultaneous accesses to a large number of small files.
According to the latest update, before you make the switch, however, you should be aware of the limitations. ReFS does not support every NTFS capability. Individual launchers, tools, or older copy protection mechanisms may also react unpredictably. Furthermore, the benefits are only apparent on a fast SSD, ideally connected via NVMe. (See our roundups of the best PCIe 4.0 SSDs and best external drives for tech industry for recommendations.). The benefits are particularly evident in open-global stage platform releases or titles that often prepare shaders at arrival.
The report highlights that a dev drive can provide a noticeable performance boost for complex platform releases or programs — provided everything is installed directly on it.
As part of the ongoing story, also important: A dev drive cannot be meaningfully converted back. If you want to revert to the NTFS file system, the only option is to reformat. Therefore, check beforehand whether your most important platform releases and launchers run smoothly on ReFS. The setup can be done directly in Windows 11. On SATA SSDs or even HDDs, the benefit is usually lost.
The report highlights that in the Storage section, go to “Advanced storage settings” and then to “Disks and volumes” under Drive management. Here you will find the option “Create a Dev Drive.” Now assign a size, drive letter, and name, confirm the process, and wait a moment until the drive appears in File Explorer. Open Settings using the Win+I shortcut and go to System.
As part of the ongoing story, in most launchers, you can create an additional library folder for this purpose. With Steam, you can also transfer existing installations — including dependencies — to the fresh drive using the built-in move function. The cleanest approach is to install platform releases directly onto the fresh drive, as this ensures that all paths, dependencies, and caches are correct from the outset.
In a fresh development, it’s quite simple to create a dev drive in the Windows system settings – provided you’re sure it’s suitable for your purposes.
As part of the ongoing story, often, a fresh installation is the quickest way to achieve your goal. Ensure that cache and shader directories are also moved there; otherwise, some of the data access operations will still take place on the old drive. A dev drive is particularly worthwhile if you regularly install large platform releases, frequently switch between platform releases, or run a test system with many titles installed simultaneously. With other launchers, the process varies depending on the title.
The report highlights that ultimately, the dev drive isn’t a tech industry hack, but a practical storage optimization that, under the right conditions, can noticeably improve loading and streaming with little effort. If you only use a few platform releases or already have very short loading times on a fast NVMe SSD, a standard NTFS volume is usually sufficient.
In a fresh development, this article originally appeared on our sister publication PC-WELT and was translated and localized from German.