Storage Spaces – Dealing with a Failed HDD

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I am new to Win10, coming from Win7, and I am interested in the storage spaces capability. I have read Woody’s Windows 10 book on this and still have some questions.

Building a new computer I have installed Win10 Home (64 bit processor, ver 1909). I have a Crucial CT500P1SSD8 C drive for system and software. I have a 1TB internal Samsung HD103SJ HDD for data. I would consider getting a second identical (or similar capacity) HDD for the storage space. I have several questions.

 

1. In setting up storage space both HDD’s are erased. I assume then that I need to move my data from the data drive to an external HDD, set up the storage space, then return the data to the storage space. Is there no way to initiate a storage space by directly building it around an existing HDD?

2. In the past (previous Win7 computer with 1 HDD) I cloned my “C” drive, with Acronis, and took the clone offline – very secure but not necessarily up to date. The storage space is great for securing against a drive failure, but malware could still be a problem. I scan with AVG often, have Acronis for Ransomware, and I rarely have any issues (never serious). I plan to backup the SSD system drive with an Image file to a usually offline USB3 HDD using Acronis. If malware got through, I assume it would affect both HDD’s in the storage space. I suspect the SSD system drive would be more at risk for serious malware, but what about the HDD data drives. I assume they could be affected, but that the storage space could be scanned by AVG (or any malware program) just like any single drive. Any comments on this malware issue?

3. If one drive fails in a 2 mirror setup, how do I remove it, replace it in the pool so that it mirrors the good drive? Information on this is very scarce, and what little is available is confusing. This seems too important not to be made clear and easy.

4. I see that ReFS is recommended over NTFS for use in storage space. Acronis apparently does not recognize ReFS. What about other programs not recognizing ReFS? Is this a problem? ReFS is a Microsoft format and perhaps is not standardized yet.

5. I heard there are problems trying to use CHKDSK and defrag on storage space. Is this an issue?

 
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1. Store your data on the SSD, unless you have very large amounts. I have moved “Music” and “Pictures” to a second hard disk because they take up a large amount of space and are rarely written to.
2. Use the external disk to make an image backup of C: and a data backup of D:, assuming you use my strategy in 1 above. If you are paranoid about malware affecting your backup, use 2 external disks and rotate them for each backup.
3. Don’t mirror or use other RAID in a non-server. Stick to simple disk arrangement and an external backup.
4. ReFS or other advanced storage systems are only for use in NAS devices in business environments, unless you really want to experiment with things.

Bottom line, keep it simple for your main PC. Set up exotic things to play with on a spare unit.

cheers, Paul

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JohnW

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I have to agree with @paul-t. Keep it simple…

Have a look at this ‘storage spaces’ tale of woe: Storage Spaces stopped working – has retired all 4 of my drives

Hope this helps…

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I would have to agree with Paul too.

If you use simple single internal drives for data, you can just move them over from the old PC and plug them in to SATA as is, and any pre-existing data on them will be accessible.

As far as your concerns with ransomware, any drive that is online can be vulnerable, so a good backup/image should be taken of them and kept offline with an external USB drive.

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

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