A Dev Drive in Windows 11 is a specialized virtual drive optimized for developers that provides better performance, security, and control over development workloads. It's built on the Resilient File System (ReFS) and takes advantage of a new performance mode in Microsoft Defender Antivirus, which can deliver up to 30% better performance for build times compared to standard Windows 11 configurations.
This drive is designed to provide quick access to project files, source code repositories, code libraries, etc., significantly increasing productivity by allowing code to be compiled faster and results to be retrieved faster. Under specific conditions, a Dev Drive can run 41% faster than a regular drive.
To set up a Dev Drive, your system must meet certain requirements:
- at least 8 GB of RAM (16 GB recommended).
- at least 50 GB free disk space.
- OS version of Windows 11 22H2 Build 22621.2361 or higher.
- virtualization enabled.
A Dev Drive can be created with unallocated disk space, by shrinking an existing volume to create additional space, or by Virtual Hard Drive (VHD) on top of the physical disk.
Additionally, the Dev Drive is tailor-made for storing and accessing data that requires constant read/write operations, such as development archives and libraries. It has been optimized through multiple configurations for better performance, including using ReFS instead of NTFS, and it is protected by Windows Security, so not subject to intense scrutiny.
Create Dev Drive in Windows 11
Via settings
Open the settings. Click on “System” and then on “Storage”.
First click on “Advanced storage settings” and then on “Disks and volumes”.
If your computer meets the minimum requirements for a developer drive, click “Create Developer Drive”.
You can then choose to create the developer drive on a VHD or shrink an existing volume. If you have already created a volume with unallocated disk space, it will also be visible for creating the “dev drive”.
Via Command Prompt or Terminal
You can create a developer drive, also manage it via Command Prompt or Terminal.
fsutil devdrv enable: Enables Dev Drive support and lets the system decide whether to associate the antivirus filter with a Dev Drive.fsutil devdrv enable /allowAv: Enables Dev Drive support and allows the antivirus filter to be associated with a Dev Drive.fsutil devdrv enable /disallowAv: Enables Dev Drive support without allowing the antivirus filter to be associated with a Dev Drive.
It is important to note that disconnecting antivirus filters can pose a security risk as it means that your storage drive will not be covered by Microsoft Defender's standard security scans. Microsoft recommends using the default setting of “performance mode” when using a trusted Dev Drive to strike a balance between threat protection and performance
I hope to have informed you with this. Read more about a developer station here. Thank you for reading!