Storage management is a critical topic in almost any networked enterprise of any size. An essential part of this topic is to create and configure storage pools. A storage pool enables us to combine multiple dynamic disks as a single large space. We can then create as many virtual disks as we want from that storage pool. We can further partition those virtual disks into multiple volumes. Hence, It is an important and straightforward topic we will cover in this article, mainly focusing on how we can create and configure a storage pool on Windows Server 2022.

In addition to the above topics, we will first discuss how to add virtual disks on VMware virtual machines. This is a prerequisite for configuring storage pools using Windows Server 2022 virtual machine on a VMware workstation, and you do not have multiple physical disks. Briefly saying, we will walk through the followings:

• How to add virtual disks on VMware virtual machine.
• How to create a storage pool on Windows Server 2022
• And how to create virtual disks from the storage pool

If you already know any of the above sections, you can skip them and continue with the section you do not know.

Adding Virtual Disks on Windows Server 2022 VMware Virtual Machine

Before creating and configuring Storage Pools on a Windows Server 2022 VMware virtual machine, We need to add at least two virtual disks. Follow the below steps to do so.

• Shut down your Server 2022 machine if it is running.
• Go to your virtual machine settings. To do so, select the virtual machine, and open the Edit virtual machine settings option.

• On the Hardware tab of the Settings window, click on Add. Choose Hard Disk on the new wizard, and click on Next, afterwards.

• Choose the SCSI option as disk type, and click on Next.

• Check the Create a new virtual disk option and click on Next.

• Specify the maximum disk size for your virtual hard disk. Then, select the Split virtual disk into multiple files. Click on Next, finally.

• Browse for the location where you intend to save the disk files. You can also modify the disk name here. Once set, click on Finish.

To this point, we have added a new virtual disk to our Windows Server 2022 virtual machine. We need at least two disks to create a Storage Pool as we mentioned above. So, following the above steps, add a new virtual disk, and then continue to the next section.

You may also like to read How To Create A Virtual Machine In VMWare.

Creating a Storage Pool on Windows Server 2022

As we said previously, we can combine multiple dynamic disks in one place with a storage pool. We provided the prerequisite in the first section. In this section, we go through the steps to create and configure a storage pool on Windows Server 2022.

• Open Server Manager on your Windows Server 2022.
• On the left-hand panel, open the File and Storage Services option.

• Select the Storage Pools from the menu. We can see three sections: Storage Pools on the top, Physical Disks on the bottom-right, and Virtual Disks on the bottom-left area. The way the whole process works is to create a pool from the Physical Disks first. Then we can create virtual disks from our storage pool and they will appear in the Virtual Disks section.

• To create a new storage pool, click on the Tasks dropdown menu in the Physical Disks area, and click on New Storage Pool.

• Click next on the Before You Begin section. Name the pool, and click on Next.

• You can select the disks you use for your storage pool in the Physical Disks section. Choose the disks and click on Next.

• Now, check the summary of the settings. Click on Next if everything is set correctly. Use the Previous button to go back and bring changes if something goes wrong. Finally, click on Close on the Result section.

We have built our new storage pool from two disks. The pool we created now shows up in the Storage Pools area, and we can create virtual disks from our pool.

Creating Virtual Disks from a Storage Pool

After creating a storage pool on Windows Server 2022, we can make several virtual disks of varying sizes from it. Let’s walk through the steps.

• Right-click on the intended storage pool and select New Virtual Disk.

• Select the storage pool from the list, and click on OK.

• Click Next on the Before You Begin window. Put the name for your virtual disk, and click Next.

• Select the storage layout that best suits your needs, then click on Next afterwards.

• Choose the provisioning type for your disk, and click on Next. The Thin is always selected as far as it is dynamic. That means the Thin type consumes its defined space only when needed. On the other hand, the Fixed type will consume the whole space designated for it from the very beginning.

• The next step is to specify the size of your disk. Specify it and click on Next. The Maximum size option is greyed out as we chose Thin as the provisioning type.

• Now, check out the summary of the settings you defined for your disk. You could use the Previous button to go back and correct the settings if they went wrong. Or click on Create to create the disk. Click on the Close button on the next page.

It was all about how we could create a virtual disk from the existing storage pool on Windows Server 2022. After you have made it, you can see it added to the Virtual Disks area, and you can partition it into volumes.

You may also look for How To Solve Disabled Extend Volume Option In Windows 11?

Summary

So far in this article, we discussed how we could create and configure a storage pool on Windows Server 2022. As we need at least two disks to do so, we first added two virtual disks for our Server VMware virtual machine. Then, we stepped through the steps of creating our storage pool. Consequently, we created a virtual disk from the storage pool.

I hope this article can help you find your answer. If you have any further questions, you can always share us in the comment section.

The post How to Create and Configure Storage Pool on Windows Server 2022 appeared first on TECHNIG.

The Windows 10 Storage Spaces helps protect your data from drive failures and extend storage over time as you add drives to your PC. You can use Windows 10 Storage Spaces to group two or more drives in a storage pool and then use capacity from that pool to create virtual drives called storage spaces. These storage spaces typically store two copies of your data, so if one of your drives fails, you still have an intact copy of your data. If you run low on capacity, just add more drives to the storage pool.

Windows 10 Storage Spaces Requirement

To use Windows 10 Storage Spaces, at least you need two extra drives (in addition to the drive where Windows is installed). These drives can be internal or external hard drives or solid-state drives. You can use a variety of types of drives with Storage Spaces, including USB, SATA, and SAS drives.

Release Articles: 

• Best SSD For Laptop and Computer
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How Do I Create a Storage Space in Windows 10?

Before you configure and setup Windows 10 storage spaces, you should connect the hard disks to your computer. It is the necessary step because you are going to group two or more hard Disks with Storage Spaces feature.

1. Add or connect the drives that you want to group together with Storage Spaces.
2. Type Storage Spaces in the search box, and select Storage Spaces from the list of search results.
3. Select Create a new pool and storage space.
4. Select the drives you want to add to the new storage space, and then select Create pool.
5. Give the drive a name and letter, and then choose a layout. Two-way mirror, Three-way mirror, and Parity can help protect the files in the storage space from drive failure.
6. Enter the maximum size the storage space can reach, and then select Create storage space.
7. Done.

1. To open the Windows 10 Storage spaces, just type Storage Spaces on Windows 10 search box to find Storage Spaces and manage. Click Storage Spaces to open storage space.

2. On the Manage Storage Spaces window, select Create a new pool and storage space. It will create a pool and group hard disks together to create new virtual drives.

Here I have four hard disks on my Windows 10 computer. These hard disks are virtual hard disks, and I’m testing Storage Space on Hyper-v within a Virtual machine to write this article. Its a virtualized environment for server virtualization and networking virtualization.

Related Articles: 

• Hyper-v Configuration on Windows 10
• Hyper-v Essential Configuration

3. Select the hard disks you want to create a pool and group together. I have selected disks 2 and 4. When you have selected the hard disks, click Create pool.

4. Now on the Create a storage space page, type a name for the drive, select drive letter from Drive letter, select File system (NTFS), choose Simple (no resiliency) as resiliency type, and specify the size of the virtual hard disk then click Create storage space.

The Storage space drive has created successfully. It’s possible to view files, make changes and even delete the drive from Manage Storage Space section.

How to Remove a Drive from a Pool?

If you created a pool in Windows 10 or upgraded an existing pool, you’ll be able to remove a drive from it. The data stored on that drive will be moved to other drives in the pool, and you’ll be free to use the drive for something else.

1. Type Storage Spaces in the search box, and select Storage Spaces from the list of search results.
2. Select Change settings > Physical drives to see all the drives in your pool.
3. Find the drive you want to remove and select Prepare for removal > Prepare for removal. Leave your PC plugged in until the drive is ready to be removed. It could take several hours, depending on how much data you have stored there.
4. (Optional) To speed up drive preparation, prevent your PC from going to sleep. Type Power and sleep in the search box on the taskbar, then select Power & sleep settings. When plugged in, PC goes to sleep after, choose Never.
5. When the drive is listed as Ready to remove, select Remove > Remove drive. Now, you can disconnect the drive from your PC.

Which one Simple, Mirror, or Parity Space?

You can create simple spaces, mirror spaces, and parity spaces. Read the differences on the below-detailed description.

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In Windows 10 the Storage Spaces is best feature for data protection and hard disk spaces solutions. To setup Windows 10 storage spaces you need to have at least 2 hard disks. The Storage Spaces helps protect your data from drive failures and extend storage over time as you add drives to your computer.

You can use Storage Spaces to group two or more drives together in a storage pool and then use capacity from that pool to create virtual drives called storage spaces. These storage spaces typically store two copies of your data so if one of your drives fails, you still have an intact copy of your data. If you run low on capacity, just add more drives to the storage pool.

How to Setup Windows 10 Storage Spaces?

How do setup Windows 10 storage spaces using Storage Spaces feature? Before you configure and setup Windows 10 storage spaces, you should connect the hard disks to your computer. This is necessary step because you are going to group two or more hard disks together with Storage Spaces feature.

1. Type Storage Spaces on Windows 10 search to find Storage Spaces and manage.

2. On the Manage Storage Spaces window, select Create a new pool and storage space. This will create a pool and group hard disks together in order to create new virtual drives.

Here I have four hard disks on my Windows 10 computer. Actually these hard disks are virtual hard disks and I’m testing Storage Space on Hyper-v to write this article.

3. Select the hard disks you want to care a pool and group together. I have selected disks 2 and 4. When you have select the hard disks, click Create pool.

4. Now on the Create a storage space page, type a name for drive, select drive letter from Drive letter, select File system (NTFS), select Simple (no resiliency) as resiliency type, and specify the size of virtual hard disk then click Create storage space.

The Storage space drive has been created successfully. It’s possible to view files, bring changes and even delete the drive from Manage Storage Space section.

OK, you have understood the creation of Storage pool and storage drive using Windows 10 Storage Spaces. It’s time to know about advanced features of Storage Space and redundant array of independent disks RAID technology.

What are Simple, Mirrored and Parity Drive Volumes?

The RAID is more than these three types in Windows 10 Storage Spaces. But to setup Windows 10 Storage Spaces, you should know the three different kinds of Storage Spaces with unique characteristics that make them better or worse for storing different kinds of files.

• Simple spaces are designed for increased performance but don’t protect your files from drive failure by keeping multiple copies. They’re best for temporary data (such as video rendering files), image editor scratch files, and intermediary compiler object files. Simple spaces require at least one drive.

• Mirror spaces are designed for increased performance and protect your files from drive failure by keeping more than one copy. Two-way mirror spaces make two copies of your files and can tolerate one drive failure, while three-way mirror spaces can tolerate two drive failures. They’re good for storing a broad range of data, from a general-purpose file share to a VHD library. When a mirror space is formatted with the Resilient File System (ReFS), Windows will automatically maintain your data integrity, which makes your files even more resilient to drive failure. Two-way mirror spaces require at least two drives, and three-way mirror spaces require at least five.

• Parity spaces are designed for storage efficiency and protect your files from drive failure by keeping more than one copy. Parity spaces are best for archival data and streaming media, like music and videos. This storage layout requires at least three drives to protect you from a single drive failure and at least seven drives to protect you from two drive failures.

With more than two disks you can create Mirrored spaces and Parity spaces also. When you create new storage space, simply select Mirrored or Parity from Resiliency type section.

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