This topic discusses common questions about Storage Spaces on Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows 8.1, and Windows eight. For basic info about Storage Spaces, come across Storage Spaces Overview. For design info, encounter Software-Divers Storage Blueprint Considerations Guide. For performance data, see Storage Spaces - Designing for Performance.

Table of Contents

  • How tin can I manage Storage Spaces?
  • What are the recommended configuration limits?
  • What are the all-time uses of simple, mirror, and parity spaces?
  • What types of drives can I use with Storage Spaces?
  • What types of storage arrays tin I use with Storage Spaces?
    • Enclosure Awareness Back up - Tolerating an Entire Enclosure Declining
    • What are the resiliency levels provided by Enclosure Sensation?
  • What types of storage spaces can I employ with a failover cluster?
  • What properties can I change subsequently creating a storage infinite?
  • How does Windows let me know of a disk failure?
  • How does Storage Spaces respond to errors on physical disks?
  • What information will Storage Spaces put in the Event log?
  • How do I replace a physical disk?
  • What are columns and how does Storage Spaces determine how many to utilize?
    • Example one: A Two-Cavalcade Simple Space
    • Example ii: A 3-Column Parity Space
    • Example 3: A Two-Column 2-Way Mirror Space
    • Controlling the Number of Columns
  • Why exercise I take a low capacity warning even though I still have unused pool chapters?
    • A two column, two-way mirror infinite that uses sparse provisioning in a iv deejay pool
  • How do I increase pool capacity?
  • What happens to Storage Spaces when moving physical disks betwixt servers?
  • How do I check Storage Spaces resiliency health in a failover cluster?
  • How do I know repairing a storage space starts and successfully completes?
  • What happens if I run out of physical chapters on a thinly provisioned storage infinite?
  • See Too

How can I manage Storage Spaces?

There are 3 means to manage Storage Spaces and associated storage pools and drives:

  • The Storage Spaces item in Control Panel Available in Windows 10, Windows 8.ane and Windows 8, you can use the Storage Spaces particular in Control Panel to easily create and maintain storage spaces and their associated storage pools. The Storage Spaces detail in Control Panel provides simple but powerful control over tasks a user might want to perform.
  • The File and Storage Services department of Server Manager Available in Windows Server, you lot can utilize Server Manager to create and manage storage spaces (likewise referred to as virtual disks) and their associated storage pools on the Storage Spaces subsystem as well every bit on non-Microsoft storage subsystems. Server Manager provides support for performing all of the tasks administrators normally perform with Storage Spaces.
  • The Storage module in Windows PowerShell Available in Windows and Windows Server, you lot can utilise the cmdlets included in the Storage module to create and manage storage spaces (also referred to as virtual disks) and their associated storage pools on the Storage Spaces subsystem also every bit on not-Microsoft storage subsystems. Windows PowerShell provides comprehensive back up for managing Storage Spaces.

What are the recommended configuration limits?

The following are the recommended configuration limits for Storage Spaces:

For clustered storage pools:

  • Up to 80 physical disks in a amassed storage pool (to allow time for the puddle to neglect over to other nodes)
  • Up to iv storage pools per cluster

For non-clustered storage pools:

  • Up to 240 physical disks in a non-clustered Windows Server 2012 R2 storage puddle (4 x 60 deejay JBOD); y'all can, however, take multiple pools of 240 disks
  • In Windows Server 2012, you can take up to 160 concrete disks in a storage pool; you can, all the same, have multiple pools of 160 disks.

For both amassed and non-clustered pools:

  • Up to 480 TB of chapters in a single storage pool
  • Up to 64 storage spaces in a single storage puddle
  • Up to 10 TB per virtual disk when using persistent VSS snapshots and the Volsnap VSS organization provider

What are the all-time uses of simple, mirror, and parity spaces?

Storage Spaces offers uncomplicated spaces, mirror spaces, and parity spaces, each with unique characteristics.

  • Simple spaces are designed for increased performance when resiliency isn't very of import. They are best suited for temporary information, such as video rendering files, image editor scratch files, and intermediary compiler object files. Uncomplicated spaces require a minimum of one physical disk.
  • Mirror spaces are designed for increased performance and increased resiliency. 2-fashion mirror spaces can tolerate 1 disk failure and three-way mirror spaces can tolerate ii deejay failures. They are well suited to storing a broad range of information, from a general-purpose file share to a VHD library. When a mirror space is formatted with the Resilient File Organisation (ReFS), Windows offers automatic information integrity maintenance. This is a layer of resiliency is to a higher place and beyond the resiliency achieved from maintaining multiple data copies to tolerate drive failure.

    Mirror spaces require at least two disks (per tier if you utilise storage tiers) to protect you from a unmarried disk failure. To protect a virtual deejay from 2 simultaneous deejay failures, you lot demand at least three disks (per tier), with a minimum of five disks total in the puddle to maintain pool metadata.

  • Parity spaces are designed for capacity efficiency and increased resiliency. Parity spaces are best suited for archival data and streaming media, such as music and videos. This storage layout requires at to the lowest degree three disks to protect you from a unmarried disk failure and at least 7 disks to protect you from two deejay failures.

For details on how to design mirror and parity spaces for maximum reliability and performance, including how to employ periodical disks to better parity write performance, see the Software-Defined Storage Pattern Considerations Guide.

Note
Storage Spaces cannot be used to directly host the Windows startup disk or page file (though virtual difficult disks can be safely stored in a storage infinite). Storage Spaces is not a disaster recovery or information replication solution, nor is it a substitute for regular backups.

What types of drives can I use with Storage Spaces?

You can use commodity drives attached via Serial-Fastened SCSI (SAS), Serial ATA (SATA), PCI-Express, M.2, U.2, or USB. Storage layers that abstract the physical disks are not compatible with Storage Spaces. This includes VHDs and laissez passer-through disks in a virtual automobile, and storage subsystems that layer a RAID implementation on top of the physical disks. iSCSI and Fibre Aqueduct controllers are not supported by Storage Spaces.

RAID adapters, if used, must be in not-RAID mode with all RAID functionality disabled. Such adapters must not abstract the physical disks, cache data, or obscure whatever attached devices including enclosure services provided past attached merely-a-agglomeration-of-disks (JBOD) devices. Storage Spaces is uniform only with RAID adapters that support completely disabling all RAID functionality.

Annotation
Consumers tin can use USB drives with Storage Spaces, though USB 2 drives might not offer a high level of functioning. A single USB 2 difficult drive can saturate the bandwidth available on the shared USB coach, limiting performance when multiple drives are attached to the aforementioned USB 2 controller. When using USB two drives, plug them direct into unlike USB controllers on your reckoner, practise not use USB hubs, and add USB two drives to a split up storage pool used merely for storage spaces that do not require a high level of performance.

What types of storage arrays can I use with Storage Spaces?

Storage arrays that provide direct connectivity to the concrete disks they house and practice not layer RAID implementations or abstract the disks in whatever manner are compatible with Storage Spaces. Such arrays are too known as Only a Bunch of Disks (JBOD).

For Storage Spaces to identify disks by slot and leverage the array'south failure and place/locate lights, the assortment must back up SCSI Enclosure Services (SES) version 3. For a listing of compatible arrays, meet the Windows Server Hardware Catalog.

Enclosure Awareness Support - Tolerating an Unabridged Enclosure Failing

To support deployments that require an added level of error tolerance, Storage Spaces supports associating each re-create of data with a particular JBOD enclosure. This adequacy is known as enclosure awareness. With enclosure sensation, if one enclosure fails or goes offline, the data remains bachelor in one or more alternate enclosures.

To use enclosure awareness with Storage Spaces, your surround must meet the post-obit requirements:

  • JBOD storage enclosures must support SCSI Enclosure Services (SES).
  • Storage spaces must use the mirror resiliency type if you're using Windows Server 2012:
    • To tolerate i failed enclosure with ii-mode mirrors, you need iii compatible storage enclosures.
    • To tolerate 2 failed enclosures with 3-manner mirrors, y'all need five compatible storage enclosures.

What are the resiliency levels provided past Enclosure Awareness?

The following table lists the maximum simultaneous fault tolerance of solutions that have enclosure awareness enabled:

Resiliency type Three enclosures Four enclosures

Uncomplicated

Not supported

Not supported

Two-way Mirror

1 enclosure; or 1 disk*

1 enclosure; or 1 disk*

3-way Mirror

1 enclosure + 1 disk*; or 2 disks*

ane enclosure + 1 disk*;

or two disks*

Single Parity

Not supported

Not supported

Dual Parity

Not supported

1 enclosure + i disk*;

or 2 disks*

* per pool

What types of storage spaces can I utilize with a failover cluster?

Storage Spaces on Windows Server 2012 R2 supports creating a clustered storage puddle when using mirror spaces, parity spaces, and elementary spaces. Windows Server 2012 doesn't support parity spaces on clustered storage pools. To cluster Storage Spaces, your environment must see the following requirements:

  • All storage spaces in the storage puddle must apply fixed provisioning.
  • Two-mode mirror spaces must use 3 or more physical disks.
  • Iii-mode mirror spaces must use v or more physical disks.
  • Parity spaces are supported on Windows Server 2012 R2, but not Windows Server 2012.
  • All physical disks in a clustered pool must be connected via SAS.
  • All physical disks must support persistent reservations and pass the failover cluster validation tests.

Note: The SAS JBOD must be physically connected to all cluster nodes which will use the storage pool.  Straight fastened storage that is not connected to all cluster nodes is not usable for amassed pools with Storage Spaces.

What backdrop can I change after creating a storage space?

Upon creating a storage space, certain fundamental properties are locked in place. These fundamental backdrop include the provisioning type (thin or fixed), the resiliency type (simple, mirror, or parity), the number of columns the storage space striping requires, and the striping interleave.

After creating a storage space, you lot can alter properties that do not affect primal characteristics, such equally the size of the storage space and its proper name.

How does Windows let me know of a deejay failure?

When a disk failure occurs, Windows displays information on the disk failure in the following locations:

  • The taskbar
  • The Activeness Center
  • The Storage Spaces Particular in Control Panel (on Windows eight.1 and Windows 8)
  • The Storage Pools section of the File and Storage Services role in Server Director (on Windows Server)
  • The Windows PowerShell cmdlet Get-PhysicalDisk

How does Storage Spaces respond to errors on physical disks?

Concrete disks often experience errors of varying severity, from errors that the disk can transparently recover from, without interruption or data loss; to errors that are catastrophic and tin cause data loss. For more information, meet How Storage Spaces responds to errors on physical disks.

What information will Storage Spaces put in the Event log?

To help with assistants, Storage Spaces volition log sure events in the Result log. For more information on the events logged by Storage Spaces, run across the post-obit:

  • Storage Spaces Event 100
  • Storage Spaces Issue 102
  • Storage Spaces Result 103
  • Storage Spaces Event 104
  • Storage Spaces Event 200
  • Storage Spaces Event 201
  • Storage Spaces Upshot 202
  • Storage Spaces Outcome 203
  • Storage Spaces Issue 300
  • Storage Spaces Event 301
  • Storage Spaces Upshot 302
  • Storage Spaces Effect 303
  • Storage Spaces Event 304
  • Storage Spaces Issue 306
  • Storage Spaces Upshot 307
  • Storage Spaces Issue 308

How do I replace a physical deejay?

If you are using the Storage Spaces item in Control Console, replacing a physical deejay is as simple as clicking the command to remove the onetime disk. After that, you can immediately disconnect the disk. In the background, Storage Spaces leverages resiliency to reconstruct your data. Deejay removal has three prerequisites:

  • All storage spaces that depend on the disk are resilient and good for you (removing the disk volition not succeed if a simple space depends on the deejay).   Y'all can discover which storage spaces depend on a physical disk by piping the Get-PhysicalDisk cmdlet to Go-VirtualDisk. For example: 
    Get-PhysicalDisk -FriendlyName PhysicalDisk1 | Go-VirtualDisk
    You tin can bank check the resiliency and health of your storage spaces by using the Become-VirtualDisk cmdlet. A storage space is resilient when ResiliencySettingName is either Mirror or Parity and healthy when HealthStatus is Healthy.
  • The puddle has at least as much unused capacity on other disks as the amount of data the old disk hosts. This ensures that the storage spaces can exist reconstructed with a replacement disk. If the usage type of the disk is manual, then the storage spaces that depend on the disk must have sufficient unused capacity on other disks in their list of disks they can use. In both cases, the unused chapters must exist on disks that exercise not already host an extent of the same stripe as the sometime deejay. This tin be satisfied by first calculation the new disk to the puddle, and, if applicable, adding it to the storage spaces' lists of disks that they can utilize.
    Tip
    You can check for unused chapters on disks the afflicted storage spaces are non using by subtracting AllocatedSize from Size, equally reported by the Become-PhysicalDisk command.
  • If the pool is clustered, removing the deejay would not cause the pool to have fewer than three disks, if the pool does not comprise any three-way mirror spaces, or fewer than 5 disks, if the pool contains a three-way mirror space.

If yous are using Windows PowerShell, yous must perform post-obit procedure to remove the quondam disk, assuming that you meet the prerequisites for removing a physical deejay.

Removing a physical disk by using Windows PowerShell

  1. Open a Windows PowerShell session as an ambassador.

  2. Blazon the following command, replacing <diskname> with the friendly name of the disk:

    Set up-PhysicalDisk -FriendlyName                <diskname>                -Usage Retired

    If the pool is amassed, you volition demand to run this control on the cluster node which has the cluster resource for the pool online.

  3. Blazon the following control for each storage space that depended on the old disk, replacing <virtualdiskname> with the friendly name of the storage space:

    Repair-VirtualDisk -FriendlyName <virtualdiskname>

    If the pool is clustered, run this command on the cluster nodes that have the individual storage spaces' cluster resource online and so run it again on the cluster node that has the puddle'southward cluster resources online.

  4. Prior to performing pace v, you must wait for all active repair jobs to complete. To monitor the status of repair jobs, type the following control:

  5. Type the following command:

    Remove-PhysicalDisk -FriendlyName <diskname>                
    The above control did not piece of work in my Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials.                
                    
    You accept to do this in 2 steps. First give the disk to be removed a name and then remove;                
                    
    example;
                    
    PS C:\> $PDToRemove = Go-PhysicalDisk -Friendlyname "PhysicalDisk25"
                    
    PS C:\> Remove-PhysicalDisk -PhysicalDisks $PDToRemove -StoragePoolFriendlyName "DemoPool"

  6. Physically disconnect the old disk.

What are columns and how does Storage Spaces decide how many to utilise?

Besides offering resiliency to drive failures, Storage Spaces also offers increased operation by striping data across multiple disks. Storage Spaces describes a stripe via 2 parameters, NumberOfColumns and Interleave.

  • A stripe represents one laissez passer of information written to a storage space, with data written in multiple stripes (passes).
  • Columns correlate to underlying concrete disks across which ane stripe of data for a storage space is written.
  • Interleave represents the amount of information written to a unmarried column per stripe.

The NumberOfColumns and Interleave parameters, which are accessible via Windows PowerShell or WMI, make up one's mind the width of the stripe (stripe_width = NumberOfColumns * Interleave). The stripe width determines how much information and parity (in the case of parity spaces) Storage Spaces writes across multiple disks to increase performance bachelor to apps.

Case 1: A Two-Cavalcade Simple Space

A simple instance is a ii-column unproblematic space, which offers striping with no resiliency.

For the first stripe of information in this example, Storage Spaces writes 256 KB (the default Interleave value) to the first disk (column) in the storage pool, and then 256 KB of data to the 2nd disk in the pool. This yields a stripe width of 512 KB (2 columns * 256 KB interleave).

Instance ii: A Iii-Column Parity Space

Another instance is a 3-column parity space (with a 256 KB stripe interleave), the simplest form of a parity space.

For the offset stripe of data in this example, Storage Spaces writes 256 KB of data to the first disk (column), 256 KB of data to the second disk, and 256 KB of parity to the third deejay. This yields a stripe size of 768 KB (3 columns * 256 KB of interleave). Equally more than data is written to the parity space, it rotates the cavalcade for the parity information among all iii disks.

Example iii: A Ii-Column Two-Way Mirror Infinite

Some other example is a two-cavalcade two-way mirror space. Mirror spaces add a layer of data copies below the stripe, which means that a two-fashion mirror infinite duplicates each individual column's data onto two disks.

For the first stripe of data in this example, Storage Spaces writes 256 KB of data to the first column, which is written in duplicate to the first two disks. For the second cavalcade of data, Storage Spaces writes 256 KB of data to the 2d column, which is written in duplicate to the next two disks. The column-to-disk correlation of a 2-way mirror is i:2; for a 3-way mirror, the correlation is 1:3.

Controlling the Number of Columns

You tin can control the number of columns and the stripe interleave when creating a new storage infinite by using the Windows PowerShell cmdlet New-VirtualDisk with the NumberOfColumns and Interleave parameters.

Each blazon of storage space has a minimum number of stripe columns which translates to a minimum number of physical disks, given their column-to-disk correlation (beneath).

Resiliency blazon

Minimum number of columns

Column-to-deejay correlation

Minimum number of disks

Maximum cavalcade count

Elementary (no resiliency)

1

one:1

1

  N/A

Two-mode mirror

ane

1:2

2

  N/A

3-fashion mirror

1

1:3

5

  N/A

Single Parity

3

1:ane

3

 eight
Dual Parity  7 1:1 7 17

Due to striping, a storage space simultaneously allocates capacity from as many disks equally its stripe requires. Therefore, when increasing puddle capacity, you can usually achieve optimal pool capacity utilization when you add disks in multiples of the number of disks the storage infinite needs. For instance, adding disks in multiples of four might provide optimal capacity utilization for a puddle comprised of two-column, two-way mirror spaces (2 columns + 2 information copies = 4 disks per stripe).

Note Storage Spaces in Windows Server 2012 R2 and earlier by default uses the largest cavalcade count possible given the number of disks y'all accept and the resiliency type you select. This is useful for environments with a small number of disks where you lot want to maximize operation and don't have to replace disks very oft. However, in environments with a large number of disks, use a column count number one less than the maximum. This allows Storage Spaces to automatically repair virtual disks post-obit a disk failure or subsequently you retire a deejay.

Why do I have a low capacity warning fifty-fifty though I still take unused pool capacity?

Storage Spaces provides accelerate notification of thinly provisioned storage spaces when the storage pool does not have plenty capacity spread among a sufficient number of disks to continue to write new data. The default alarm indicate is 70% capacity utilization. To learn when Storage Spaces volition generate a warning, consider the following case.

A 2 column, two-fashion mirror infinite that uses thin provisioning in a four disk pool

Ii of the disks have 1TB capacity and two take 2TB capacity. Because a 2 column, two-fashion mirror infinite needs four disks (number_of_disks = NumberOfColumns * NumberOfDataCopies), it will evenly consume all four disks every bit it writes new information. When capacity utilization of the two 1TB disks reaches 70%, Storage Spaces volition warn of a low capacity condition. Even though the entire pool has iii.2TB gratuitous capacity, the thinly provisioned infinite will soon not be able to write any more data because the 1TB disks are about fully consumed.

You lot can hands keep individual storage spaces' depression capacity warning synchronized with each other and with the pool by following the guidance in the next section, "How do I increase pool capacity?" from the moment of creating the pool and through all subsequent expansions of the pool.

How practise I increase pool capacity?

Storage Spaces can usually utilize the additional capacity from even a single additional drive. All the same, for optimal capacity utilization, consider the number of columns your storage spaces take and add disks in multiples of that number.

For example, consider a pool which has a four-cavalcade uncomplicated infinite, a one-column, two-way mirror space, and an eight-cavalcade parity space. The four-cavalcade unproblematic space suggests you aggrandize pool chapters in sets of iv disks. The one-column, ii-manner mirror infinite suggests you expand pool capacity in sets of two disks (for mirror spaces, you have to multiple the number of columns by the number of copies). The eight-column parity infinite suggests you lot expand pool capacity in sets of eight disks. In this instance, you would desire to aggrandize pool capacity in sets of eight disks as eight is a common multiple of the number of columns of each of the storage spaces in the pool.

What happens to Storage Spaces when moving concrete disks betwixt servers?

Storage Spaces records information about pools and storage spaces on the physical disks that compose the storage pool. Therefore, your puddle and storage spaces are preserved when you move an entire storage pool and its concrete disks from one calculator to another.

Windows Server 2012 starts storage that could potentially be shared with a cluster in a safe state. For Storage Spaces, that means the starting time fourth dimension Windows connects to a storage pool, the pool starts every bit read-only and the storage spaces will start in a detached state. To access your data, you must set the storage pool to read-write and so attach the storage spaces.

These steps practice not use to Windows 8 – storage pools start as read-write and storage spaces start every bit fastened.

How do I check Storage Spaces resiliency wellness in a failover cluster?

The wellness of each storage space is available simply from the cluster node that has the cluster resource for the storage space in the online state. Utilize Failover Cluster Management to discover which node has the cluster resources for a storage infinite in the online country. And then use the Storage Pools section of the File and Storage Services role in Server Manager to view the wellness of the advisable storage space.

Y'all can also apply the Get-VirtualDisk cmdlet on the node that has the cluster resource online to call back the storage space'south properties. The resiliency health of the storage space is noted in the storage space's properties. To view the health status of a storage puddle, use the Get-StoragePool cmdlet on the cluster node that has the cluster resource for the pool in the online state.

How exercise I know repairing a storage space starts and successfully completes?

For the repair operation to complete successfully, the pool must have at least equally much unused capacity as data to be repaired. If the storage infinite has a list of disks to utilise, then the unused capacity must reside on those disks. Unused capacity must reside on disks which do not already host an extent of the stripe to be repaired. Because repair happens over time, this requirement must be continuously fulfilled for a successful repair completion.

For a quick check on whether repair is successfully progressing, employ the Become-VirtualDisk cmdlet to wait at the storage space'due south OperationalStatus. While repair is successfully progressing, OperationalStatus will be In Service. When repair successfully completes, OperationalStatus is OK. If repair is unable to continue, OperationalStatus returns to Degraded.

What happens if I run out of physical capacity on a thinly provisioned storage space?

Since the storage space is thinly provisioned, allocation of new chapters occurs every bit needed.  Once capacity is exhausted, there is no room to properly manage files on the storage space and there is a chance of data loss due to file abuse.  To protect confronting that, Windows takes the storage space offline – removing the storage space from the view of annihilation that was writing and thereby keeping your files safe.  Once the pool has more drives, yous tin bring the storage space back online and continue running.

When additional drives are non immediately bachelor, y'all tin try to just bring the storage infinite dorsum online and get to your files until additional drives are available.  However, sometimes applications, or the file system itself, may continue writing one time the storage space is online.  If that happens, then Windows' prophylactic measures will again protect your files by taking the storage space offline.

If additional drives are not immediately bachelor and the storage space cannot remain online, and so tin even so go to your files by using PowerShell to temporarily brand your storage space read-only.

Get-VirtualDisk –Friendlyname name_of_your_space | Get-Deejay | Prepare-Disk –IsReadOnly $truthful

Get-VirtualDisk –Friendlyname name_of_your_space | Go-Disk | Set-Disk –IsOffline $false

If you do that, then you will want to switch your storage space back to read-write once your storage pool has additional drives.  You can apply PowerShell to do that as well.

Get-VirtualDisk –Friendlyname name_of_your_space | Get-Deejay | Set-Disk –IsOffline $truthful

Get-VirtualDisk –Friendlyname name_of_your_space | Get-Disk | Set-Disk –IsReadOnly $false

Go-VirtualDisk –Friendlyname name_of_your_space | Go-Disk | Ready-Deejay –IsOffline $imitation

Finally, if you do not add more drives to the storage pool (the control panel volition tell you the minimum number of drives to add), then Windows will protect the files which are already on the storage space by taking the storage space offline.  Adding new drives to the storage puddle provides the additional capacity the storage space needs.  You will be able to bring your storage space back online and go on to copy new files into it.

See Also

  • File and Storage Services
  • Storage Spaces Overview
  • Storage Direction Overview
  • Modifying a Storage Pool that has a Read-Only Configuration
  • Provide cost-effective storage for Hyper-V workloads by using Windows Server (2012 R2)
  • Provide toll-effective storage for Hyper-V workloads past using Windows Server: planning and design guide (2012 R2)