How to Add Drives to Storage Pool for Storage Spaces in Windows 10

Essentially, Storage Spaces stores 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. In this post, we will show you how to add drives to Storage Pool for Storage Spaces in Windows 10.

Add Drives to Storage Pool for Storage Spaces

We can add drives to Storage Pool for Storage Spaces in Windows 10 in 2 quick and easy ways. We’ll explore this topic under the methods outlined below in this section:

1. Add Drives to Storage Pool for Storage Spaces via the Settings app
2. Add Drives to Storage Pool for Storage Spaces via Control Panel

Let’s take a look at the description of the step-by-step process in relation to each of the methods.

These disk drives can be internal or external hard drives or solid-state drives. You can use a variety of types of drives with Storage Spaces, including USB, SATA, and SAS drives.

1] Add Drives to Storage Pool for Storage Spaces via Settings app

To add drives to Storage Pool for Storage Spaces via Settings app in Windows 10, do the following:

• Connect the disk drive(s) that you want to add to the storage pool.
• Press the Windows key + I to open Settings.
• Tap or click System.
• Click/tap on Storage on the left pane.
• Next, scroll down and click/tap on the Manage Storage Spaces link on the right pane.
• Click on the chevron to expand a storage pool you want to add disk(s) to.
• Next, click on the chevron to expand the Physical disks for the storage pool.
• Now, click/tap on Add disks to storage pool.
• Select (check) the drives you want to add to the storage pool.
• Now, check (Recommended) or uncheck the Optimize disk usage option.
• Click/tap on Add button.

Note: Windows will permanently delete all partitions and files on selected formatted drives (disks). Be sure to back up anything you do not want to lose to another disk first.

• The selected disk(s) will now be added to the storage pool.
• Exit Settings app when done.

2] Add Drives to Storage Pool for Storage Spaces via Control Panel

To add drives to Storage Pool for Storage Spaces via Control Panel in Windows 10, do the following:

• Connect the disk drive(s) that you want to add to the storage pool.
• Press Windows key + R to invoke the Run dialog.
• In the Run dialog box, type control and hit Enter to open Control Panel.
• From the top right corner of the window, set the View by option to Large icons or Small icons.
• Click Storage Spaces.
• Click/tap on the Change settings button and click/tap on Yes if prompted by UAC.
• Next, click/tap on the Add drives link for the storage pool you want to add drives to.
• Select (check) the drives you want to add to the storage pool.
• Now, check (Recommended) or uncheck the Optimize disk usage option.
• Click/tap on Add drives button.
• The selected disk(s) will now be added to the storage pool.

Note: Once the drive is added, if you like, you can click/tap on the Change link for the storage space to specify the maximum storage space size to what you want, since you just added a drive(s) to have more space available.

• Exit Control Panel when done.

That’s it.

We will shortly see how to Upgrade Storage Pool for Storage Spaces in Windows 10.