Unlike Binary Delta Compression (BDC), which is designed to operate only on known versions of a single file, RDC does not make assumptions about file similarity or versioning.
The algorithm used is based on fingerprinting blocks on each file locally at both ends of the replication partners.
Since comparing large files could imply making large numbers of signature comparisons, the algorithm is recursively applied to the hash sets to detect which blocks of hashes have changed or moved around, significantly reducing the amount of data that needs to be transmitted for comparing files.
According to Internet rumor, enabling RDC significantly slows local file transfers, and it should not be enabled; a Microsoft TechNet web page disputes this in great detail,[3] despite frequent anecdotal posts of its removal having worked to restore transfer speeds.
[citation needed] With the release of Microsoft's Windows Server 2019, RDC support was included in the section Features we’re no longer developing (which may be removed from a future update), with the comment "This support isn’t currently used by any Microsoft product".