Remove Disk from Storage Pool for Storage Spaces in Windows 10  

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    Remove Disk from Storage Pool for Storage Spaces in Windows 10

    Remove Disk from Storage Pool for Storage Spaces in Windows 10

    How to Remove Disk from Storage Pool for Storage Spaces in Windows 10
    Published by Category: Hardware & Drivers
    25 Jan 2021
    Designer Media Ltd

    How to Remove Disk from Storage Pool for Storage Spaces in 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 Storage Spaces to group two or more disk 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.

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

    See also:

    This tutorial will show you how to remove a disk from a storage pool for storage spaces in Windows 10.

    You must be signed in as an administrator to remove a disk from a storage pool.


    Issue with some Storage Spaces configurations after updating to Windows 10, version 2004 and Windows Server, version 2004 | Microsoft Support

    Workaround and recovery steps for issue with some Parity Storage Spaces after updating to Windows 10, version 2004 and Windows Server, version 2004 | Microsoft Support




    Contents

    • Option One: Remove Disk from a Storage Pool in Settings
    • Option Two: Remove Disk from a Storage Pool in Control Panel






    OPTION ONE

    Remove Disk from a Storage Pool in Settings


    This option is only available starting with Windows 10 build 21296.


    1 Open Settings, click/tap on the System icon.

    2 Click/tap on Storage on the left side, and click/tap on the Manage Storage Spaces link on the right side. (see screenshot below)

    Remove Disk from Storage Pool for Storage Spaces in Windows 10-remove_disk_from_storage_pool_in_settings-1.jpg

    3 Perform the following actions to remove a disk from a storage pool: (see screenshot below)

    A) Expand open a storage pool you want to remove a disk from.

    B) Expand open Physical disks for the storage pool.

    C) Click/tap on the disk you want to remove.

    D) Click/tap on Properties for the disk you want to remove.

    Remove Disk from Storage Pool for Storage Spaces in Windows 10-remove_disk_from_storage_pool_in_settings-2.png

    4 Click/tap on Prepare for removal. (see screenshot below)

    Remove Disk from Storage Pool for Storage Spaces in Windows 10-remove_disk_from_storage_pool_in_settings-3.png

    5 Click/tap on Remove. (see screenshot below)

    Remove Disk from Storage Pool for Storage Spaces in Windows 10-remove_disk_from_storage_pool_in_settings-4.png

    6 The disk will now be removed from the storage pool. (see screenshot below)

    Remove Disk from Storage Pool for Storage Spaces in Windows 10-remove_disk_from_storage_pool_in_settings-5.png

    7 You can now close Settings if you like.

    8 The disk you removed will now show as an unallocated disk in Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) ready for you to disconnect or format.






    OPTION TWO

    Remove Disk from a Storage Pool in Control Panel


    1 Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click/tap on the Storage Spaces icon.

    2 Click/tap on the Change settings button, and click/tap on Yes if prompted by UAC. (see screenshot below step 3)

    3 Under Physical drives for the storage pool you want, click/tap on the Prepare for removal link for the drive you want to remove. (see screenshot below)

    Remove Disk from Storage Pool for Storage Spaces in Windows 10-storage_spaces_remove_drive_from_storage_pool-1.jpg

    4 Click/tap on the Prepare for removal button when ready. (see screenshot below)

    Leave your PC plugged in until the drive is ready to be removed. This could take several hours, depending on how much data you have stored there.

    If you run into problems when you try to prepare the drive for removal, it might be because you don't have enough free space in the pool to store all the data from the drive you want to remove. Try adding a new drive to the pool that's as large as the drive you plan to remove and then try again.

    Remove Disk from Storage Pool for Storage Spaces in Windows 10-storage_spaces_remove_drive_from_storage_pool-2.jpg

    5 The disk will now be listed as Preparing for removal. (see screenshot below)

    Remove Disk from Storage Pool for Storage Spaces in Windows 10-storage_spaces_remove_drive_from_storage_pool-3.jpg

    6 When the disk is listed as Ready to remove, click/tap on its Remove link. (see screenshot below)

    Remove Disk from Storage Pool for Storage Spaces in Windows 10-storage_spaces_remove_drive_from_storage_pool-4.jpg

    7 Click/tap on the Remove drive button. (see screenshot below)

    Remove Disk from Storage Pool for Storage Spaces in Windows 10-storage_spaces_remove_drive_from_storage_pool-5.jpg

    8 The disk will now be removed from the storage pool. (see screenshots below)

    Remove Disk from Storage Pool for Storage Spaces in Windows 10-storage_spaces_remove_drive_from_storage_pool-6.jpg
    Remove Disk from Storage Pool for Storage Spaces in Windows 10-storage_spaces_remove_drive_from_storage_pool-7.jpg

    9 The disk you removed will now show as an unallocated disk in Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) ready for you to disconnect or format.


    That's it,
    Shawn






  1. Posts : 13
    Windows 10 Home
       #1

    Appreciate the tutorial on the subject! Quick what if for you -- If a drive was used at some point as part of a Storage Space pool [but was not 'removed' using the tutorial process you outline] how can I go about getting the drive in a 'normal' state so it can be reused? Appears from the tinkering I've done, that it's not that straightforward but I could be easily missing something! Thanks...
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 68,543
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #2

    MarkMcK said:
    Appreciate the tutorial on the subject! Quick what if for you -- If a drive was used at some point as part of a Storage Space pool [but was not 'removed' using the tutorial process you outline] how can I go about getting the drive in a 'normal' state so it can be reused? Appears from the tinkering I've done, that it's not that straightforward but I could be easily missing something! Thanks...
    Hello Mark,

    I haven't tested this, but I would think formatting the drive or using the clean command on the drive should allow it to be used normally afterwards if you're not able to remove the drive from the Storage Space pool normally.
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 13
    Windows 10 Home
       #3

    The drive does not appear in Diskpart [attached via USB] but all indications are that a 'normal' drive similarly connected via USB would be shown. Same with looking in Windows Disk Management, the drive does not appear. Since the drive was part of a virtual disk and never 'Removed' properly I think the drive may never [or not without some effort which is beyond me] be made 'whole' and independent... If this all turns out to be the case it can be a cautionary tale and emphasizes the importance of your tutorial!!! You can potentially end up in a similar situation if there is a system/drive failure and you end up with only one disk in your hand out of a two-drive mirror. You can retrieve your data, but the drive might be 'bricked' from using 'normally' in a Windows environment. You can still read/write to this 'orphaned' Storage Spaces drive, but I expect other functionality will be lost. You've got me curious and I might do some trials as I'm presently in the earlier stages of two system builds and have the hw/sw resources to fairly easily 'test'. Will let you know if anything useful applies...
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 68,543
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #4

    MarkMcK said:
    The drive does not appear in Diskpart [attached via USB] but all indications are that a 'normal' drive similarly connected via USB would be shown. Same with looking in Windows Disk Management, the drive does not appear. Since the drive was part of a virtual disk and never 'Removed' properly I think the drive may never [or not without some effort which is beyond me] be made 'whole' and independent... If this all turns out to be the case it an be a cautionary tale and emphasizes the importance of your tutorial!!! You can potentially end up in a similar situation if there is a system/drive failure and you end up with only one disk in your hand out of a two-drive mirror. You can retrieve your data, but the drive might be 'bricked' from using 'normally' in a Windows environment. You've got me curious and I might do some trials as I'm presently in the earlier stages of two system builds and have the hw/sw resources to fairly easily 'test'. Will let you know if anything useful applies...
    I look forward to hearing your results.
      My Computers


  5. Posts : 13
    Windows 10 Home
       #5

    Sadly, I didn't copy my laptop system for a 'true' before/after test so the following may not be correct... So with that caveat, it appears that if you remove one of the drives being used in a Two-Drive Mirror Storage Pool and take it to different computer [in my case a laptop, connected by a 'USB to SATA' cable] you may be able to do the following to place the drive in a 'normal' configuration and reuse for other purposes. In my case it was a simple matter of going to Storage Spaces in the Control Panel on the laptop, confirming the Pool information showing the disks making up the pool, etc [One of them will be shown in an error status] and just deleting the Pool. Drive appeared in Disk Management [Not initialized, no Volume]. Sorry to be so 'wobbly' on this. Maybe someone else can give it a go...
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 68,543
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #6

    MarkMcK said:
    Sadly, I didn't copy my laptop system for a 'true' before/after test so the following may not be correct... So with that caveat, it appears that if you remove one of the drives being used in a Two-Drive Mirror Storage Pool and take it to different computer [in my case a laptop, connected by a 'USB to SATA' cable] you may be able to do the following to place the drive in a 'normal' configuration and reuse for other purposes. In my case it was a simple matter of going to Storage Spaces in the Control Panel on the laptop, confirming the Pool information showing the disks making up the pool, etc [One of them will be shown in an error status] and just deleting the Pool. Drive appeared in Disk Management [Not initialized, no Volume]. Sorry to be so 'wobbly' on this. Maybe someone else can give it a go...
    That's encouraging news. Were you able to access the data on it?
      My Computers


  7. Posts : 13
    Windows 10 Home
       #7

    Brink said:
    That's encouraging news. Were you able to access the data on it?
    In a word... No

    Removing it from the Pool made the data inaccessible. I created a thread about my 'testing' Here
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 68,543
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #8

    MarkMcK said:
    In a word... No

    Removing it from the Pool made the data inaccessible. I created a thread about my 'testing' Here
    Thank you for sharing Mark. I hope it may help others as well.
      My Computers


  9. Posts : 420
    Windows 10 1803
       #9

    no option to remove


    friends I'm trying to resolve a severe bluescreen issue that the folks at MS who are helping me are pretty sure Memory-related, but RAM is checking out perfect, and I want to disable/remove Storage spaces altogether. It is inplace to manage two 1tb drives in a mirror, one of the drives is failing and is offline. When I follow the directions here, after the Change Settings tick is activated, there is no remove option per drive. see image. I thought I would simply remove both drives.

    a secondary issue is that I need to run something more detailed than chkdsk on all drives [boot ssd plus the two mentioned above]. I'm trying to use HDDSCAN, but it gives me apparently nothing but "Bad Blocks" on drives chkdsk says are fine. I suspect Storage Spaces may be ill advised in using the tool. another reason to just back it off
    how?
      My Computer


 

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