Windows 10: Optimize Drive Usage in Storage Pool for Storage Spaces in Windows 10

How to: Optimize Drive Usage in Storage Pool for Storage Spaces in Windows 10

How to Optimize Drive Usage in Storage Pool for Storage Spaces in Windows 10


Information 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.

When you upgrading a pool, you'll need to manually optimize drive usage.

This tutorial will show you how to manually optimize drive usage in a storage pool for storage spaces in Windows 10.

You must be signed in as an administrator to optimize drive usage in a storage pool.


CONTENTS:

• Option One: To Optimize Drive Usage in Storage Pool in Storage Spaces Settings
• Option Two: To Optimize Drive Usage in Storage Pool in PowerShell

OPTION ONE [/i] To Optimize Drive Usage in Storage Pool in Storage Spaces Settings
1. Open Settings, click/tap on the System icon, click/tap on Storage on the left side, and click/tap on the Manage Storage Spaces link on the right side. (see screenshot below)


Note You can also open the Control Panel (icons view), and click/tap on the Storage Spaces icon instead.





2. Click/tap on the Change settings button, click/tap on Yes if prompted by UAC, and click/tap on the Optimize drive usage link for the storage pool you want. (see screenshot below)



3. Click/tap on the Optimize drive usage button when ready to start. (see screenshot below)



4. Drive usage will now start optimizing until complete. (see screenshot below)


Note Optimization might slow down your PC for a while, but you can stop it without losing your progress.









OPTION TWO [/i] To Optimize Drive Usage in Storage Pool in PowerShell
1. Open an elevated PowerShell.

2. Type the command below into the elevated PowerShell, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
*Arrow Get-StoragePool




3. Make note of the current friendly name (ex: "Storage pool 1") of the storage pool you want to optimize drive usage for. (see screenshot above)

4. Type the command below into the elevated PowerShell, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
*Arrow Optimize-StoragePool -FriendlyName "Name"



Note Substitute Name in the command above with the actual name of the storage pool (ex: "Storage pool 1") from step 3 above you want to optimize drive usage for.

For example:

Optimize-StoragePool -FriendlyName "Storage Pool 1"





5. When finished, you can close the elevated PowerShell.

That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Create Storage Spaces Shortcut in Windows 10
• How to Create a New Pool and Storage Space in Windows 10
• How to Create a Storage Space for Storage Pool in Windows 10
• How to Change Storage Space in Storage Pool in Windows 10
• How to Delete a Storage Space from Storage Pool in Windows 10
• How to Add Drives to Storage Pool for Storage Spaces in Windows 10
• How to Rename Physical Drive in Storage Pool for Storage Spaces in Windows 10
• How to Remove Drive from Storage Pool for Storage Spaces in Windows 10
• How to Rename Storage Pool for Storage Spaces in Windows 10
• How to Delete a Storage Pool for Storage Spaces in Windows 10
• How to Upgrade Storage Pool for Storage Spaces in Windows 10

:)

 

storage pool, cannot change or delete in W10

Hi, Kevien99C,

When you add new drives to an existing pool, it's a good idea to optimize drive usage. This will move some of your data to the newly added drive to make the best use of the pool's capacity. It'll happen by default when you add a new drive to an upgraded pool
in Windows 10—you'll see a check box for Optimize to spread existing data across all drives selected when you add the drive. However, if you cleared that check box or added drives before upgrading a pool, you'll need to manually optimize drive usage. To do
so, type Storage Spaces in the search box on the taskbar, select Storage Spaces from the list of search results, and then select Optimize drive usage.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12438/...

 

Windows 10 Storage Spaces rebalancing

I'm sorry to hear that you've been having problems optimizing your storage pool and removing disks. We made some improvements to this functionality in the

Windows 10 November update, so I'd suggest that you install that, upgrade your pool (if necessary), and then try using the Storage Spaces Control Panel to optimize drive usage and/or remove physical disks.

Our latest Help content briefly covers the new Storage Spaces functionality:

Storage Spaces in Windows 10.

I hope this helps!

Jason Gerend - Senior Content Developer for Storage Spaces

 

How to remove a bad drive in Windows 10 storage spaces pool

Could someone list the steps involved in replacing a bad drive from a Windows 10 storage spaces pool? I cannot find any info on the Microsoft support site that is specific to Windows 10. Also, could you list the steps to remove a 'good' drive and replace
it with another drive if the process is different?

 

Windows 10 Storage Spaces Improvements?

We just released a couple of new Storage Spaces features with the
Windows 10 November update:

• Optimize drive usage to make the best use of all of your drives after adding drives
• Safely remove a drive from a pool by automatically moving data off the drive and onto other drives in the pool.

To make use of these features you'll have to install the
Windows 10 November update. Our latest Help content briefly covers the new Storage Spaces functionality:

Storage Spaces in Windows 10

Cheers!

Jason Gerend - Senior Content Developer for Storage Spaces

 

Cannot remove a "Retired" drive in Windows 10 Storage Spaces

We just released a couple of new Storage Spaces features with the
Windows 10 November update that should help deal with removing and adding drives:

• Optimize drive usage to make the best use of all of your drives after adding drives
• Safely remove a drive from a pool by automatically moving data off the drive and onto other drives in the pool.

To make use of these features you'll have to install the
Windows 10 November update. Our latest Help content briefly covers the new Storage Spaces functionality:

Storage Spaces in Windows 10.

Cheers!

Jason Gerend - Senior Content Developer for Storage Spaces