What is Storage Spaces?
Storage Spaces is the new storage virtualization and management
technology Microsoft has developed. The concept of Storage Spaces has
been around for quite some time; Windows Home Server used Drive
Extender to make external storage manageable within Windows Home
Server, and Storage Spaces takes a cue from this technology.
The idea behind Storage Spaces is to allow nonidentical disks to be
managed as a single array by Windows. This reduces the need for
companies to purchase traditional and expensive storage arrays to grow
their storage infrastructure or add extra storage for a project.
Instead, an organization can purchase a set of disks in an enclosure,
referred to as just a bunch of disks, or JBOD,
and connect them to Windows. When connected, a storage pool can be
created to work with all those disks. From the pool of disks, volumes
are created and mounted by the operating system. Windows then manages
the disk pool and volumes created from it as a traditional storage
system might, removing some of the overhead and complexity from
enterprise-grade storage.
In Windows 8, a storage space can be created from a collection of removable
USB disks. When created, new disks can be added to the disk pool at any
time, allowing the space to grow as needed. When data is saved to a
volume that exists in a storage space, the information is spread across
all the disks within the pool to ensure redundancy.
To create a
storage space, you first must define a disk pool. A disk pool is a
collection of disks that belong to the storage space. In the disk pool,
you create a storage space and volumes Windows uses. To create a disk
pool and storage space, complete the following steps:
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Search for Storage
Spaces, tap or click Settings, and then tap or click Storage Spaces.
Alternatively, access Control Panel, tap or click System And Security,
and then tap or click Storage Spaces.
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Tap or click Create A New Pool And Storage Space. At the User Account Control prompt, tap or click Allow.
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Select the drives to use as part of this storage space; options can include the following:
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After all the disks have been selected, tap or click Create Pool.
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Enter a name for your storage space (see Figure 1).
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Select a drive letter to assign.
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Select the Resiliency type. Options include:
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Simple Requires only one drive and does not protect from any failure.
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Two-Way Mirror Requires at least two disks because it stores two copies of your data to protect it from a single-drive failure.
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Three-Way Mirror Writes three copies of your data across five or more drives. This type can survive a two-disk failure.
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Parity Requires
three or more drives and writes data with parity information across
these drives. This type protects your data from a single-drive failure.
Depending on the Resiliency type you select, the total pool capacity changes to accommodate your choice.
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Enter the maximum size for the storage space.
Windows calculates the maximum based on the number of disks in the
pool, the available size of the disks, and the resiliency selected.
Note
MAXIMUM SIZE OF A STORAGE SPACE
A storage space is a virtual representation of available space. A
storage space can be thinly provisioned, which allows for additional
storage to be added as needed to accommodate the growth of a storage
space.
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Tap or click Create Storage Space to apply your choices and create the space.
During the creation process, the wizard will format your storage
space and attach it to Windows. After this completes, you see your
storage pool and statistics about the storage spaces it contains under the Manage Storage Spaces heading in Control Panel, as shown in Figure 2.
Storage virtualization makes this work
The storage presented to Windows as part of a storage space is a
virtual representation of physical disks. This can be confusing, but it
works similarly to logical disks and partitions within a disk. The biggest difference is that Windows virtualizes the disk itself, so one pool of storage can contain several physical disks.
When disks are added to a pool, Windows considers these disks to be
a single storage entity. The entire amount of space across all physical
disks becomes available, minus any space needed to accommodate the
resiliency settings chosen. Storage spaces are created on top of that
pool of aggregated storage. Because they are created across multiple
disks, they can provide improved performance and recoverability by
adding more disks to the pool.
When a space is created and a drive letter assigned, Windows 8 sees
this drive as one volume and writes data to it as though it was one
disk. The work is done behind the scenes to manage the logical disk
pool and physical disks included in it.
Benefits of Storage Spaces
The biggest benefit of Storage
Spaces is data recoverability and the ability of a properly configured
storage space to survive disk failure within the pool. Cost and
affordability are also big benefits for those intending to increase the
capacity of their storage without buying expensive and specialized
equipment.
An additional benefit of this configuration is metadata recording.
When a disk pool is created across disks and a storage space built on
that pool, metadata about the disk pool and the storage space are
written to all member disks. In this way, the storage space can survive
a system failure.
For example, suppose you have configured a storage space by using a
disk pool of two USB removable drives. After the space has been in use
for some time, you get a new laptop because there is money in the
budget for one. When Windows 8 is configured on the new laptop, you can
connect the USB disks to the computer, and the storage space you
created earlier, along with the disk pool configuration and any data
stored on the space, is ready to use very quickly. This is possible
because of the metadata written to any disks used in creating a storage space.
Storage Spaces is an affordable method for enabling both
organizations and individuals to increase their capacity as needed for
a relatively small price tag. Keep in mind that this feature is not a
replacement for good backup and recovery solutions. No matter where
your data is stored, it should be backed up as frequently as necessary
to meet your company’s requirements.
