Trying to use parity in Windows Server 2019 Storage Spaces

Software & Operating Systems Windows
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I am trying to create either a raid 5, or a raid 6 array in my new R730XD running Windows Server 2019, but I am running into a problem. I can create a simple (raid 0), and a mirrored (raid 1) array just fine, but when I try to use any kind of parity I receive an odd error. It errors and says: “The storage pool does not have sufficient eligible resources for the creation of the specified virtual disk.” I have 8 x 14TB Seagate Ironwolf Pro drives in the machine, and I am trying to create the raid array with four of them, using a fifth for a hot spare. Please Help! I am testing this out now, and must get this working before I deploy it to a client.

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You’ll probably need to post the PowerShell commands you used to help us understand better what is happening.

One point I would make is that it doesn’t help to try and translate it directly to RAID terms. It achieves the same goal but can work differently e.g. you don’t need to set hot spares in a storage space. Also, if you are using a new feature like dual parity then you would need more disks in the pool, 7 is the minimum I think.

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Thank you for the reply. I am using the GUI, because I am still learning PowerShell. I will try the 7 disk minimum next. The responses I have been getting from other tech forums is that storage spaces is for use between multiple servers, and not multiple drives within a single server. Which to me, makes no real sense. I can say though, that even single parity doesn’t work. Also, why would I not need the hot spare?

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Those repsonses are from people who don’t know what they are talking about :slight_smile: Storage Spaces Direct provides the functionality for clustered servers. See here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/storage-spaces/overview

and here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/storage-spaces/storage-spaces-fault-tolerance

Both storage spaces with parity or even RAID 5 means the array can tolerate a single disk failure a hot-spare is not a requirement, it’s still an option but I’m not sure if you can set that up via the GUI for storage spaces - you definately can with PowerShell, likewise with PowerShell you can add SSD’s and performance tiers to the storage pools.

Note that MS doesn’t really recommend single parity, and also performance can suffer.

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