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Storage

The primary server (server) acts as primary archival storage and NAS.

SnapRAID and DrivePool

Good tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IXMM4hfIek

https://stablebit.com/DrivePool https://www.snapraid.it/

SnapRAID is designed for archival storage that does not change frequently. For our network, this means:

  • Media (videos and photos for Plex/Emby)
  • Archival and backup documents

Applications and other "hot" data should not be stored in the SnapRAID pool.

Install Notes

  • Installed StableBit DrivePool (note: install took a while, but I let it go and eventually it finished).
  • Removed storage pool from Storage Spaces.
  • Quick formatted each drive into NTFS.
    • N:\ - Snap Parity
    • O:\ - Snap Data 1
    • P:\ - Snap Data 2
  • Create pool in DrivePool app.
    • Only the data drives go into the pool. Parity drive does not.
    • The drive pool is assigned letter D:\.
  • Turn off immediate balance (to prevent possible parity holes when using SnapRAID).
    • Manage Pool -> Balancing... -> Do not balance automatically
  • Extracted SnapRAID into C:\snapraid
  • Create config file from example in folder.
  • Followed tutorial to setup config.
  • Loaded backup in Veeam B&R. In the backup tools tab, I chose the Guest Files (Windows) restore option. From there I chose to restore all the previous D:\ files into the new D:\ drive (selected all folders, Restore to -> Overwrite).
  • Waited for restore to complete. This took well over 12 hours. One file failed because it got flagged as a virus (in was a RAR file with a COD2 No CD patch). The No CD patch was present after the restore, so I did not worry about the RAR file.

(Retired) Storage Spaces

Prior to March 2026, the storage pooling (Storage Spaces) feature in Windows Server was used to handle the primary storage pool for NAS.

Notes on replacing a failed drive:

  • Had a drive start to go bad in summer of 2023 (WD-WCC7K1CL96SV).
  • Added new replacement drive to system, and added that new physical device to the storage pool.
  • Retired the failing disk (PowerShell):
    • Get-PhysicalDisk
      • Use this to find the correct disk based on serial number. The Intel rapid storage utility shows which disk is at risk and shows its serial number.
    • Get-PhysicalDisk | Where-Object SerialNumber -e WD-WCC7K1CL96SV
      • Verify you can isolate the failed disk by serial number.
    • Get-PhysicalDisk | Where-Object SerialNumber -e WD-WCC7K1CL96SV | Set-PhysicalDisk –Usage Retired
      • Set the disk as retired

I waited a while and tried to do some backups before removing the failed disk from the pool. I started getting BSODs at random points when copying files. Eventually had to just unplug the bad drive and do backups at that point. I was scared to use the “remove physical disk” feature of the storage pool until I had a backup (yes, should have have a backup in the first place…). When you go to “remove physical disk” it says its going to try to rebuild the virtual disk that uses the storage pool. This shouldn’t be a problem, but I was scared of getting BSODs during that process.

Now can remove the failed disk from the pool.

See instructions at: Replace Failed Disks and Repair JBODs for Storage Spaces in Windows Server | Microsoft Learn