Storage Spaces allows you to add new drives to an existing storage pool to create new spaces or extend the available storage of existing spaces at any time using the Settings app (on build 21286 and higher) and Control Panel.
On Windows 10, Storage Sense is a feature that helps you to protect your data from hardware failure and extend the storage capacity by grouping physical hard drives into a logical group refer as “pool” that you can then use to create a virtual volume (known as “space”) to store your data.
If you already have a storage pool and want to create another volume or expand the capacity of an existing volume, Windows 10 includes at least two ways to add drives to a pool.
In this guide, you will learn the steps to add drives on a storage pool in Storage Spaces on Windows 10.
- How to add disks to pool in Storage Spaces using Settings
- How to add disks to pool in Storage Spaces using Control Panel
How to add disks to pool in Storage Spaces using Settings
To add new drives to a pool in Storage Spaces, use these steps:
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Open Settings on Windows 10.
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Click on System.
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Click on Storage.
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Under the “More storage settings” section, click the Manage Storage Spaces option.
Manage Storage Spaces -
Under the “Physical disks” section, click the Add disks to storage pool option.
Add disks to storage pool Quick tip: If you do not see the option, click the collapse button on the right side. -
Select the drives you want to add to the pool. Or check the Available disks option to select all the available drives.
Add disks to pool -
(Optional) Check the Optimize disk usage option.
Quick note: It is always recommended to optimize the storage usage to make sure the system better utilizes the new space by spreading some of the data onto the new drives. -
Click the Add button.
Once you complete the steps, Storage Spaces will add the new drive to the pool, and it will optimize the space usage, depending on your configuration.
How to add disks to pool in Storage Spaces using Control Panel
To add more drives to an existing pool with Control Panel, use these steps:
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Open Control Panel.
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Click on System and Security.
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Click the Storage Spaces option.
Control Panel Storage Spaces -
Click the Check settings button.
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Under the pool section, click the Add drives option.
Control Panel Storage Spaces add drives -
Clear the drives you do not want to add to the pool. Or leave all the options checked to add every available disk.
Storage Spaces select new drives -
(Optional) Check the Optimize disk usage option.
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Click the Add drives button.
After you complete the steps, the drive will be added to the pool, and you can now use the additional space to create another space (volume) or expend an existing space.
When using Storage Spaces, you can add internal or external traditional hard drives and Solid-State Drives (SSD) using different types of technologies, including SAS, SATA, and USB.
Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 14 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 20 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me. Email him at [email protected].