Storage Spaces sucks, how can I free my disks and get rid of it??????

[Fritz]

Feel like I stepped in dog poop. I created a storage spaces pool then decided I didn't want it. Now it's holding my disks hostage and I can't find how to kill it and free my disks. The problem is it's a primordial pool and searching for how to delete it returns nothing but gibberish.

HELP !!!!!!!!

Never mind. I found out how to retire a dive. Had to retire each one individually, all 24 of them, but it did free them. Never again will I consider using Storage Spaces. It's just another piece of garbage software made by Microsoft.

 

[nabsltd]

I looked at Storage Spaces briefly, but when I found out that you put together 20 drives and end up with one usable volume, I was out. It's a variant of software RAID...why can't it combine the drives into one big virtual drive that can then be partitioned just like any other drive?

 

[Tech Junky]

garbage software made by Microsoft

Linux helps kill bad "features". For when you don't want to just disable but actually remove things that they plant.

 

[Fritz]

Yea, putting them in a Linux box was an option but I would have had to remove them from their caddies one at a time to do so... But on second thought, I could have used a live CD.

When you look at all the hoops you have to jump through to manage Storage Spaces I can't see why anyone would use it. There are far better and easier solutions out there. Microsoft always goes to China by heading East.

 

[Stephan]

I was just going to reply but then saw you got it sorted. For smallish purposes I recommend Synology, 8 drives, little trouble. For men, ZFS on Netapp DS4246 (2x 12 drives in RAIDZ3) using multipathd and active-active configuration.

 

[mattventura]

I looked at Storage Spaces briefly, but when I found out that you put together 20 drives and end up with one usable volume, I was out. It's a variant of software RAID...why can't it combine the drives into one big virtual drive that can then be partitioned just like any other drive?

But it can do that. You make one single pool, and then you can make different spaces within that pool, and they can each have a different RAID level.

 

[Tech Junky]

putting them in a Linux box

Not what I meant but that would be a better idea than anything storage related to Windows.

I meant firing up a live image and excising the crap they put inside for sheeple. For instance defender.

I did software raid for years on Linux and didn't have any issues. Much easier to manipulate it to your will.

 

[nabsltd]

But it can do that. You make one single pool, and then you can make different spaces within that pool, and they can each have a different RAID level.

That must be for a newer OS version. My only system with enough disks to even try this is 2012R2. I'm upgrading that machine to 2022 sometime this year.

 

[cesmith9999]

No, that is how it has always been. You put the disks in a pool, then you carve out your virtural disks with whatever raid level you want. It has been that way since day 1.

Chris

 

[Bert]

Use the Storage Spaces on Windows Server. Windows Client has a limited functionality, at least through UI. Via powershell, you may be able to reach to more advanced features.

I am using is since 2012, in the early days there were a few bugs but it has been very stable now; you need to use the server.

 

[mattventura]

The one I posted is from desktop windows (LTSC 21H2, build 19044.4046) - even without the server version, you should be able to make multiple spaces per pool.

If someone can't make multiple, I suspect they made one space that was bug enough to fill the entire pool.

 

[Fritz]

I decided I could go without pooling the drives in this particular box. But if I do decide in the future to pool them, Storage Spaces will not be an option. Any software that locks the drive and requires that you use arcane cli commands on each drive individually to free them is totally unacceptable. I'm continuing to move away from Microsoft entirely and I will reach that goal.

 

[Bert]

If you move away from Windows for better uaer experience, which OS are you considering?

 

[Fritz]

Linux