Storage Spaces is a feature in Windows that allows you to group multiple drives into a storage pool and create virtual disks called storage spaces. This feature provides flexibility, resiliency, and scalability for managing your data. In this article, we'll explore how to create and manage Storage Spaces using both the Windows GUI and PowerShell.

Examples:

1. Creating a Storage Pool and Storage Space via GUI:

   • Connect the drives you want to use for your storage pool to your Windows machine.
   • Open the "Control Panel" and navigate to "System and Security" > "Storage Spaces."
   • Click on "Create a new pool and storage space."
   • Select the drives you want to include in the pool and click "Create pool."
   • Choose a name and drive letter for your storage space.
   • Select the resiliency type (Simple, Two-way mirror, Three-way mirror, or Parity).
   • Specify the size of the storage space and click "Create storage space."

2. Creating a Storage Pool and Storage Space via PowerShell:

   • Open PowerShell as an Administrator.

   • Use the following commands to create a storage pool and storage space:

     # List available physical disks
     Get-PhysicalDisk -CanPool $True
     
     # Create a new storage pool
     New-StoragePool -FriendlyName "MyStoragePool" -StorageSubsystemFriendlyName "Storage Spaces*" -PhysicalDisks (Get-PhysicalDisk -CanPool $True)
     
     # Create a virtual disk (storage space) with a Two-way mirror
     New-VirtualDisk -StoragePoolFriendlyName "MyStoragePool" -FriendlyName "MyStorageSpace" -ResiliencySettingName "Mirror" -Size 100GB
     
     # Initialize the new virtual disk
     Initialize-Disk -VirtualDisk (Get-VirtualDisk -FriendlyName "MyStorageSpace")
     
     # Create a new volume
     New-Volume -FileSystem NTFS -FriendlyName "MyVolume" -DiskNumber (Get-Disk | Where-Object IsSystem -eq $False).Number -DriveLetter "E"

3. Managing Storage Spaces:

   • To add more drives to an existing pool, go to "Storage Spaces" in the Control Panel, select the pool, and click "Add drives."
   • To change the size of a storage space, select the space in the Control Panel and choose "Change" under "Size."
   • To remove a drive, ensure it is not in use by any storage space, then select the pool and click "Remove drive."