Storage spaces query...

vvulture

New Member
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3
Hi all,

Been trying to find an answer on this to no avail..

I am thinking of switching over to Win 8 to take advantage of the storage spaces feature it offers.

My question is tho, is the main OS drive able to be included in the pool ? Or is it only the extra drives you have attached ? Kinda seems stupid if you have a 1TB+ drive as the main OS just sitting there not able to be used in the pool...

Thx guys.. :thumb:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 7
No, the main OS partition cannot be a part of the pool. It's not stupid at all, because I ask you this. How could it be part of the pool when the OS has to already be installed in order to set it up?

You can partition your drive to create a second partition, and that partition can be a part of the pool.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    CPU
    Intel i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77X-UD4 TH
    Memory
    16GB DDR3 1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVidia GTX 650
    Sound Card
    Onboard Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Auria 27" IPS + 2x Samsung 23"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440 + 2x 2048x1152
    Hard Drives
    Corsair m4 256GB, 2 WD 2TB drives
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    Antec SOLO II
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000
    Mouse
    Logitech MX
Thx for the reply Mystere,

I am alsmost certain that you cannot add a partition to the pool.. AFAIK, you must add the entire drive or not at all.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 7
Well, it's a good thing you are "almost" certain. ;) It's not true.

You have to leave the free space unpartitioned for Storage Space to recognize it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    CPU
    Intel i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77X-UD4 TH
    Memory
    16GB DDR3 1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVidia GTX 650
    Sound Card
    Onboard Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Auria 27" IPS + 2x Samsung 23"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440 + 2x 2048x1152
    Hard Drives
    Corsair m4 256GB, 2 WD 2TB drives
    Case
    Antec SOLO II
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000
    Mouse
    Logitech MX
Storage Spaces requires a separate drive as it's meant to be used for data redundancy/backup. Instead of using your OS drive that could die and ultimately lose everything on it, Windows forces you to use a separate drive so theoretically, you could at least still have a copy of a your data on a working drive.

I'll find you a thread I made where I asked about Storage Spaces and it got answered REAL GOOD...if you need it. :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS
    CPU
    AMD FX 8320
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    Crosshair V Formula-Z
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    16 gig DDR3
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    ASUS R9 270
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Seagate Barracuda (starting to hate Seagate)
    x2 3 TB Toshibas
    Windows 8.1 is installed on a SanDisk Ultra Plus 256 GB
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    OCZ 500 watt
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    A current work in progres as I'll be building the physical case myself. It shall be fantastic.
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    Arctic Cooler with 3 heatpipes
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    Logitech K750 wireless solar powered keyboard
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    Microsoft Touch Mouse
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    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, but I might go back on KIS 2014
No, Coke.. It doesn't. It can and does work on your primary drive, you just have to have unpartitioned free space on it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    CPU
    Intel i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77X-UD4 TH
    Memory
    16GB DDR3 1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVidia GTX 650
    Sound Card
    Onboard Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Auria 27" IPS + 2x Samsung 23"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440 + 2x 2048x1152
    Hard Drives
    Corsair m4 256GB, 2 WD 2TB drives
    Case
    Antec SOLO II
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000
    Mouse
    Logitech MX
Oh wait, I must be thinking of File History..THAT does require a separate disk.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS
    CPU
    AMD FX 8320
    Motherboard
    Crosshair V Formula-Z
    Memory
    16 gig DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS R9 270
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Seagate Barracuda (starting to hate Seagate)
    x2 3 TB Toshibas
    Windows 8.1 is installed on a SanDisk Ultra Plus 256 GB
    PSU
    OCZ 500 watt
    Case
    A current work in progres as I'll be building the physical case myself. It shall be fantastic.
    Cooling
    Arctic Cooler with 3 heatpipes
    Keyboard
    Logitech K750 wireless solar powered keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Touch Mouse
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, but I might go back on KIS 2014
No, Coke.. It doesn't. It can and does work on your primary drive, you just have to have unpartitioned free space on it.
I was looking at the comments, and even I did not know for sure, I did some research. It seems strange that the Spaces utility notes "physical drives" in the pool, so I tested.

I used two drives for the pool and place a small partition on one of them and added a file. I then created the pool using those two drives. A warning was given about any files being in the recycled bin if a drive was already formatted.

Of course, after the space was created, the original partition or file was not accessible. When I deleted the pool later, the original drive had one partition the used all the space....the file was nowhere.

So I will have to conclude it is referring to the entire drive, and not just unallocated space on the drive, since it seems to reconfigure the drive.

My OS drive was not offered as a possibility for the pool, but there is no unallocated space on it. My Windows 7 drive, which also has no unallocated space, was offered.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    CPU
    Intel i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77X-UD4 TH
    Memory
    16GB DDR3 1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVidia GTX 650
    Sound Card
    Onboard Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Auria 27" IPS + 2x Samsung 23"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440 + 2x 2048x1152
    Hard Drives
    Corsair m4 256GB, 2 WD 2TB drives
    Case
    Antec SOLO II
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000
    Mouse
    Logitech MX
Trust me, I've done this. It does offer you unallocated space on the OS drive.

See this article as well:

Storage spaces can only use whole drives
OK, just a couple of more pictures.

Four physical drives were involved. One OS, One Data (Completely Formatted), and two drives partially formatted.

The OS drive was not offered, even though it had over 400G of unallocated space. I did not use the Data drive, and the partitions on the other drives were completely wiped out......

If you think I am doing something wrong, Mystere, please advise. The article you reference is about Windows Server, so it may not be applicable to Windows 8.

So, I would never use a formatted drive with Storage Spaces, unless I did not care about losing the data.
 

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My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB
Let's be very clear. When you say "Unallocated" space on the OS drive, you don't mean free space right? So, lets say you had a 500GB hard drive and you created a 100GB drive C and left the remaining 400GB unallocated and unused. That 400GB should be available to storage spaces.

And drives used with storage spaces have to be unformatted/unallocated. You cannot reuse a drive with existing data and keep that data. It's because storage spaces will setup "slabs" across the drives rather than using standard typical file systems.
 

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System One

  • OS
    Windows 7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Self-Built in July 2009
    CPU
    Intel Q9550 2.83Ghz OC'd to 3.40Ghz
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    Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R rev. 1.1, F12 BIOS
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    8GB G.Skill PI DDR2-800, 4-4-4-12 timings
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    EVGA 1280MB Nvidia GeForce GTX570
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    Realtek ALC899A 8 channel onboard audio
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    23" Acer x233H
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
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    Intel X25-M 80GB Gen 2 SSD
    Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black, 32MB cache. WD1001FALS
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    Corsair 620HX modular
    Case
    Antec P182
    Cooling
    stock
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    ABS M1 Mechanical
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    Logitech G9 Laser Mouse
    Internet Speed
    15/2 cable modem
    Other Info
    Windows and Linux enthusiast. Logitech G35 Headset.
Good info here! Thanks, guys!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 10 Pro 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built Intel i7-3770k-based system
    CPU
    Intel i7-3770k, Overclocked to 4.6GHz (46x100) with Corsair H110i GT cooler
    Motherboard
    ASRock Z77 OC Formula 2.30 BIOS
    Memory
    32GB DDR3 2133 Corsair Vengeance Pro
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce GTX 980ti SC ACS 6GB DDR5 by EVGA
    Sound Card
    Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD, Corsair SP2500 speakers and subwoofer
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG 27EA33 [Monitor] (27.2"vis) HDMI
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB (system drive)
    WD 6TB Red NAS hard drives x 2 in Storage Spaces (redundancy)
    PSU
    Corsair 750ax fully modular power supply with sleeved cables
    Case
    Corsair Air 540 with 7 x 140mm fans on front, rear and top panels
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    Corsair H110i GT liquid cooled CPU with 4 x 140" Corsair SP "push-pull" and 3 x 140mm fans
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    Thermaltake Poseidon Z illuminated keyboard
    Mouse
    Corsair M65 wired
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    85MBps DSL
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, MalwareBytes Pro and CCleaner Pro
    Other Info
    Client of Windows Server 2012 R2 10 PC's, laptops and smartphones on the WLAN.

    1GBps Ethernet ports
I can't imagine this would be different on Server versus Windows 8. I'll do some further testing this weekend and report back.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    CPU
    Intel i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77X-UD4 TH
    Memory
    16GB DDR3 1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVidia GTX 650
    Sound Card
    Onboard Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Auria 27" IPS + 2x Samsung 23"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440 + 2x 2048x1152
    Hard Drives
    Corsair m4 256GB, 2 WD 2TB drives
    Case
    Antec SOLO II
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000
    Mouse
    Logitech MX
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