<\/span>What Are the Specifics of Storage Spaces Recovery?<\/span><\/h2>\r\nWhen one or more disks in a Storage Spaces (MSS) pool fail, there are details you must understand about data recovery, some of which are unique to Storage Spaces recovery:<\/p>\r\n
🟢 Must Know:<\/b><\/p>\r\n
Your data\u2019s safety comes first. If your Storage Spaces pool turns RAW<\/a> or if some drives are missing, stop all activity immediately. Any action that involves writing, moving, or modifying data in any way can overwrite the files you wish to recover. Before attempting fixes, review our troubleshooting section<\/a> to confirm your system\u2019s condition. Overall, we recommend recovering your data or making a backup of your drives first, before you even consider a \u201crepair,\u201d to protect your data from potential loss during the process.<\/p>\r\n🟡 Better to know:<\/b><\/p>\r\n
The main point of difference between MSS and RAID is that MSS is exclusively software-based, whereas RAID can be hardware or software-based. Meaning that as long as the drives are physically intact, in most cases, the files can be recovered using recovery software, whether they were deleted, formatted, or one of the drives became corrupted.<\/p>\r\n
🔵 Nice to know:<\/b><\/p>\r\n
Your Windows 10 Storage Spaces recovery chances, as well as on the more current Windows 11, are impacted by what caused the data loss. Common, and relatively minor issues include deleted or missing virtual disks, accidental reformatting, pool metadata corruption, one or more drives showing as \u201cdisconnected\u201d, or even files that have been deleted by mistake. In most cases, the data is fine and can be recovered with data recovery software.<\/p>\r\n
<\/span>How to Recover Data from Storage Spaces Yourself<\/span><\/h2>\r\nData recovery software is perfect for instances where your Microsoft Storage Spaces pool isn\u2019t accessible, or if you\u2019ve lost some of the data it stored. We\u2019re going to be using Disk Drill, a professional RAID recovery tool<\/a> that will automatically detect and rebuild the MSS storage pool, whether it uses NTFS<\/a> or ReFS. As long as the drives are appearing in Windows, Disk Drill gathers them into the correct virtual layout so that even if the data is striped, it\u2019s locatable.<\/p>\r\nFollow these steps to recover data from Microsoft Storage Spaces on Windows 11\/10:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\t- Download<\/a>, install, and open Disk Drill.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Select your Storage Space from the list of devices. If one of the disks is unstable, create a byte-to-byte backup<\/a> in Disk Drill to scan instead. Click Search for lost data<\/b>.
![\"Scanning](\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/scan-storage-space.jpg\")
<\/li>\r\n\t- Click Review found items<\/b> to see what data Disk Drill found.
![\"Reviewing](\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/review-storage-space-data.jpg\")
<\/li>\r\n\t- Preview and select the files you want to recover. Existing data will be categorized under Existing<\/b>, while deleted and reconstructed data will be under Deleted or lost <\/b>and Reconstructed<\/b>, respectively. Use the filter options to refine the results by file type, size, date modified, or recovery chances.
![\"Previewing](\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/preview-recoverable-data.jpg\")
<\/li>\r\n\t- Click Recover<\/b> once you\u2019ve selected what you need. Alternatively, if you simply want to recover everything, select nothing and click Recover all<\/b>.
![\"Recovering](\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/recover-space-data.jpg\")
<\/li>\r\n\t- Choose where you want to store the recovered data. It must be on a separate physical disk that\u2019s not included in the Storage Space being recovered from. Click Next<\/b> to finish recovery.
![\"Finishing](\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/finish-storage-space-recovery.jpg\")
<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\nThere are plenty of recovery options to recover Storage Spaces, but we chose Disk Drill for a few key reasons, including how it:\u00a0<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\t- Supports recovery from a wide range of drives, including RAID<\/a> (RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 1E, JBOD, WSS), Apple RAID, Fusion Drives, and NAS.\u00a0<\/li>\r\n\t
- Works with all common file systems used in these setups, like EXT4, Btrfs, NTFS, and ReFS, offering pretty well-rounded coverage.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Allows you to attach and recover data from virtual disks and byte-to-byte images<\/a> in the event that scanning the disk directly is too risky.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nDisk Drill will rebuild your Storage Pool for scanning and recovery. However, if the Storage Pool isn\u2019t appearing in Disk Drill, it means one of the disks is damaged to the point where the software is incapable of combining all the disks into a single Storage Space for scanning.<\/div>\r\n
<\/span>How to Repair Storage Spaces and Troubleshoot Common Problems<\/span><\/h2>\r\nNow that your data is safe, it\u2019s time to look at how you repair the Storage Space drive(s). Keep in mind that you should have recovered the data by this point, or at least backed it up, as some of these methods could result in the data being lost.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n
<\/span>Method 1.<\/span> Start with Health Checks<\/span><\/h3>\r\nLet\u2019s start with a preliminary health check. This is essential for ruling out hardware or connection problems, especially if one of the drives has crashed<\/a>. Many Storage Space errors can stem from something as simple as a loose cable. Therefore, these basic checks can save you a lot of time.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\t- Check the physical connections.<\/b> Is the drive appearing in Disk Management? Is it showing as RAW or unallocated?<\/li>\r\n\t
- Reconnect the drive.<\/b> Disconnect the drives, inspect the cables and pins, then reconnect them. Reseat or replace the SATA and power cables as needed.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Check the S.M.A.R.T. status.<\/b> Check the S.M.A.R.T. status of each drive to see if there are any signs of impending failure. If you use Storage Spaces, we assume you\u2019re tech-savvy enough to know how to do this, but just in case: you can do it either directly in Disk Drill (which you should have downloaded by now) or with CrystalDiskInfo, for example.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n
Still having issues? Next, we\u2019ll dig deeper by looking at the logs.<\/p>\r\n
<\/span>Method 2.<\/span> Check Event Viewer for Storage Spaces issues<\/span><\/h3>\r\nWindows keeps track of system events using Event Viewer. Here, you\u2019ll find warning or error logs related to Storage Spaces, and Event Viewer may report reduced resiliency. However, the logs are huge, and it can be difficult to find what you need.<\/p>\r\n
Follow these steps to find errors relating to Storage Spaces:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\t- Open Start<\/b>. Search for and open \u201cEvent Viewer\u201d.
![\"Opening](\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/open-event-viewer.jpg\")
<\/li>\r\n\t- In the left pane, navigate to:\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Windows Logs > System<\/pre>\r\n![\"Checking](\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/windows-system-logs.jpg\")
<\/li>\r\n\t
- Look for Critical<\/b>, Error<\/b>, or Warning<\/b> entries around the time the issue started. Click the Level<\/b> column title to sort by urgency.
![\"Looking](\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/notable-entries.jpg\")
<\/li>\r\n\t- Next, if available, navigate to the logs below and look for Critical<\/b>, Error<\/b>, or Warning<\/b> entries:\u00a0\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Applications > Microsoft > Windows > StorageSpaces-Driver > Operational<\/pre>\r\n![\"Checking](\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/storage-spaces-logs.jpg\")
<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\nKeep an eye out for messages about physical disk removal, redundancy reduction, virtual disk degradation, or repairs that have started or finished. Here are a few more specific errors that other readers have run into:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<\/p>\r\n
🟡 Better to know:<\/b><\/p>\r\n
The main point of difference between MSS and RAID is that MSS is exclusively software-based, whereas RAID can be hardware or software-based. Meaning that as long as the drives are physically intact, in most cases, the files can be recovered using recovery software, whether they were deleted, formatted, or one of the drives became corrupted.<\/p>\r\n
🔵 Nice to know:<\/b><\/p>\r\n
Your Windows 10 Storage Spaces recovery chances, as well as on the more current Windows 11, are impacted by what caused the data loss. Common, and relatively minor issues include deleted or missing virtual disks, accidental reformatting, pool metadata corruption, one or more drives showing as \u201cdisconnected\u201d, or even files that have been deleted by mistake. In most cases, the data is fine and can be recovered with data recovery software.<\/p>\r\n
<\/span>How to Recover Data from Storage Spaces Yourself<\/span><\/h2>\r\nData recovery software is perfect for instances where your Microsoft Storage Spaces pool isn\u2019t accessible, or if you\u2019ve lost some of the data it stored. We\u2019re going to be using Disk Drill, a professional RAID recovery tool<\/a> that will automatically detect and rebuild the MSS storage pool, whether it uses NTFS<\/a> or ReFS. As long as the drives are appearing in Windows, Disk Drill gathers them into the correct virtual layout so that even if the data is striped, it\u2019s locatable.<\/p>\r\nFollow these steps to recover data from Microsoft Storage Spaces on Windows 11\/10:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\t- Download<\/a>, install, and open Disk Drill.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Select your Storage Space from the list of devices. If one of the disks is unstable, create a byte-to-byte backup<\/a> in Disk Drill to scan instead. Click Search for lost data<\/b>.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Click Review found items<\/b> to see what data Disk Drill found.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Preview and select the files you want to recover. Existing data will be categorized under Existing<\/b>, while deleted and reconstructed data will be under Deleted or lost <\/b>and Reconstructed<\/b>, respectively. Use the filter options to refine the results by file type, size, date modified, or recovery chances.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Click Recover<\/b> once you\u2019ve selected what you need. Alternatively, if you simply want to recover everything, select nothing and click Recover all<\/b>.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Choose where you want to store the recovered data. It must be on a separate physical disk that\u2019s not included in the Storage Space being recovered from. Click Next<\/b> to finish recovery.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n
There are plenty of recovery options to recover Storage Spaces, but we chose Disk Drill for a few key reasons, including how it:\u00a0<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\t- Supports recovery from a wide range of drives, including RAID<\/a> (RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 1E, JBOD, WSS), Apple RAID, Fusion Drives, and NAS.\u00a0<\/li>\r\n\t
- Works with all common file systems used in these setups, like EXT4, Btrfs, NTFS, and ReFS, offering pretty well-rounded coverage.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Allows you to attach and recover data from virtual disks and byte-to-byte images<\/a> in the event that scanning the disk directly is too risky.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nDisk Drill will rebuild your Storage Pool for scanning and recovery. However, if the Storage Pool isn\u2019t appearing in Disk Drill, it means one of the disks is damaged to the point where the software is incapable of combining all the disks into a single Storage Space for scanning.<\/div>\r\n
<\/span>How to Repair Storage Spaces and Troubleshoot Common Problems<\/span><\/h2>\r\nNow that your data is safe, it\u2019s time to look at how you repair the Storage Space drive(s). Keep in mind that you should have recovered the data by this point, or at least backed it up, as some of these methods could result in the data being lost.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n
<\/span>Method 1.<\/span> Start with Health Checks<\/span><\/h3>\r\nLet\u2019s start with a preliminary health check. This is essential for ruling out hardware or connection problems, especially if one of the drives has crashed<\/a>. Many Storage Space errors can stem from something as simple as a loose cable. Therefore, these basic checks can save you a lot of time.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\t- Check the physical connections.<\/b> Is the drive appearing in Disk Management? Is it showing as RAW or unallocated?<\/li>\r\n\t
- Reconnect the drive.<\/b> Disconnect the drives, inspect the cables and pins, then reconnect them. Reseat or replace the SATA and power cables as needed.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Check the S.M.A.R.T. status.<\/b> Check the S.M.A.R.T. status of each drive to see if there are any signs of impending failure. If you use Storage Spaces, we assume you\u2019re tech-savvy enough to know how to do this, but just in case: you can do it either directly in Disk Drill (which you should have downloaded by now) or with CrystalDiskInfo, for example.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n
Still having issues? Next, we\u2019ll dig deeper by looking at the logs.<\/p>\r\n
<\/span>Method 2.<\/span> Check Event Viewer for Storage Spaces issues<\/span><\/h3>\r\nWindows keeps track of system events using Event Viewer. Here, you\u2019ll find warning or error logs related to Storage Spaces, and Event Viewer may report reduced resiliency. However, the logs are huge, and it can be difficult to find what you need.<\/p>\r\n
Follow these steps to find errors relating to Storage Spaces:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\t- Open Start<\/b>. Search for and open \u201cEvent Viewer\u201d.<\/li>\r\n\t
- In the left pane, navigate to:\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Windows Logs > System<\/pre>\r\n<\/li>\r\n\t
- Look for Critical<\/b>, Error<\/b>, or Warning<\/b> entries around the time the issue started. Click the Level<\/b> column title to sort by urgency.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Next, if available, navigate to the logs below and look for Critical<\/b>, Error<\/b>, or Warning<\/b> entries:\u00a0\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Applications > Microsoft > Windows > StorageSpaces-Driver > Operational<\/pre>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\nKeep an eye out for messages about physical disk removal, redundancy reduction, virtual disk degradation, or repairs that have started or finished. Here are a few more specific errors that other readers have run into:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<\/p>\r\n
Follow these steps to recover data from Microsoft Storage Spaces on Windows 11\/10:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n There are plenty of recovery options to recover Storage Spaces, but we chose Disk Drill for a few key reasons, including how it:\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Now that your data is safe, it\u2019s time to look at how you repair the Storage Space drive(s). Keep in mind that you should have recovered the data by this point, or at least backed it up, as some of these methods could result in the data being lost.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Let\u2019s start with a preliminary health check. This is essential for ruling out hardware or connection problems, especially if one of the drives has crashed<\/a>. Many Storage Space errors can stem from something as simple as a loose cable. Therefore, these basic checks can save you a lot of time.<\/p>\r\n Still having issues? Next, we\u2019ll dig deeper by looking at the logs.<\/p>\r\n Windows keeps track of system events using Event Viewer. Here, you\u2019ll find warning or error logs related to Storage Spaces, and Event Viewer may report reduced resiliency. However, the logs are huge, and it can be difficult to find what you need.<\/p>\r\n Follow these steps to find errors relating to Storage Spaces:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n Keep an eye out for messages about physical disk removal, redundancy reduction, virtual disk degradation, or repairs that have started or finished. Here are a few more specific errors that other readers have run into:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n <\/p>\r\n\r\n\t
<\/li>\r\n\t<\/li>\r\n\t<\/li>\r\n\t<\/li>\r\n\t<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n\r\n\t
<\/span>How to Repair Storage Spaces and Troubleshoot Common Problems<\/span><\/h2>\r\n
<\/span>Method 1.<\/span> Start with Health Checks<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
\r\n\t
<\/span>Method 2.<\/span> Check Event Viewer for Storage Spaces issues<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
\r\n\t
<\/li>\r\n\tWindows Logs > System<\/pre>\r\n
<\/li>\r\n\t<\/li>\r\n\tApplications > Microsoft > Windows > StorageSpaces-Driver > Operational<\/pre>\r\n
<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n
![\"Opening](\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/open-terminal.jpg\")
<\/li>\r\n\t![\"Running](\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/chkdsk-scan.jpg\")
<\/li>\r\n\t![\"Running](\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/chkdsk-f-scan.jpg\")
<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n