How to Create a Spanned Volume on Windows Server 2022

In this tutorial, we’ll explain how to create a spanned volume (also known as RAID 0) on Windows Server 2022 to make your data and apps more powerful.

NOTE: RAID, or Redundant Array of Independent Disks, is a technique used to ensure greater system availability. It should never be considered a substitute for a well-planned backup policy like the one Jotelulu applies to its customer servers.

RAID 0, also known as a Spanned Volume, is a widely used RAID configuration. It doesn’t offer the redundancy that other RAID levels provide, but it does write data across multiple disks. It’s important to stress that it doesn’t make a copy of the data. It simply distributes it across multiple disks. This slightly accelerates the read-write speed of the disk as the system can access multiple disks simultaneously.

NOTE: We’re not going to provide a detailed explanation of RAID today, but you can find other articles on the subject on the Jotelulu Blog.

 

Before you get started

To successfully complete this tutorial, you will need the following:

 

How to Create a Spanned Volume on Windows Server 2022

 

The New Spanned Volume Wizard

First, open the Server Manager. Then click on Tools (1) and select “Computer Management” (2).

Screenshot of Server Manager Dashboard
Open the Computer Management screen to manage your disks

Next, in the tree on the left-hand side of the screen, click on “Storage > Disk Management” (3) and you will be able to see the disks you have available (4).

Screenshot of Computer Management console
Open the Disk Management section to see the available disks

If you right-click on one of the disks (5), you will see the following options:

  • New Spanned Volume
  • New Striped Volume
  • New Mirrored Volume
  • New RAID-5 Volume

For this tutorial, you need to select “New Spanned Volume” (6).

Screenshot of disk options available on Computer Management console
Choose a disk and right-click on it to create a New Spanned Volume

This will launch the New Spanned Volume Wizard. Read through the introduction (7) and click on “Next” (8).

A screenshot of the introduction page of the New Spanned Volume Wizard
Read through the introduction in the Wizard and click “Next”

 

Selecting Disks for the New Spanned Volume

You will now be asked to select the disks you wish to use to create the Spanned Volume (9). The disk(s) should be the same size as the disk you clicked on to launch the wizard. Select a disk on the left-hand side (10) and click on “Add” (11). Just below, you’ll see the amount of space in MB (12), which you can reduce if you wish to. Once you have selected the necessary disks, click on “Next” (13).

A screenshot of the Select Disks screen of the New Spanned Volume Wizard
Add disks to create the new Spanned Volume

Next, you need to decide how the operating system will see this new disk array. You have the choice to assign a drive letter, mount it in an existing NTFS folder or do nothing. Select “Assign the following drive letter” (14) and choose a letter. Then, click on “Next” (15).

A screenshot of the Assign Drive Letter or Path screen on the New Spanned Volume Wizard
Assign a drive letter to the new Spanned Volume

At this point, you need to decide whether you want to format the disk or not. For this tutorial, we are going to format the disk. So, select “Format this volume with the following settings (16) and then under File System, select NTFS (17). On this screen, you can also set the Allocation unit size and the Volume label. The Volume label is what will be displayed on Windows Explorer, so it’s a good idea to choose something that will help you to easily recognise the drive. Lastly, there are a couple of extra options at the bottom of the screen (18), allowing quick formatting and file or folder compression. Once you’ve entered the necessary details, click on “Next” (19).

A screenshot of the Format Volume screen on the New Spanned Volume Wizard
Format the Spanned Volume and give it a name

 

Checking Your Chosen Settings

Next, you will be shown the settings that you have chosen (20). Check that everything is correct and click on “Finish” (21) to begin deploying the Spanned Volume.

A screenshot of the last screen of the New Spanned Volume Wizard
Check your chosen settings and create the Spanned Volume

At this point, you will be shown a message informing you that you will convert the selected basic disks to dynamic disks. This is just part of the process, so click on “Yes” to continue (22).

A screenshot of the confirmation message after finishing the New Spanned Volume Wizard
Click on “Yes” to continue

Now, all that remains is to wait a few minutes while your new spanned volume is deployed. This may take longer depending on the size of your disks and the power of your machine. You can monitor progress in the middle of the screen (23). Once everything is complete, you will see the word “Healthy” against each of the selected disks.

A screenshot of the Computer Management console while a new spanned volume is being created
Monitor progress as the disks are formatted

 

Checking the New Spanned Volume in Windows Explorer

Once finished, if you go to Windows Explorer, you should see your new drive with the letter and size that you chose earlier.

A screenshot of the new drive in Windows Explorer
Check that your new spanned volume appears in Windows Explorer

That’s it! You’re now ready to start using your new spanned volume.

Summary

In this tutorial, we’ve shown you how to create a spanned volume on Windows Server 2022, though the process is almost identical for Server 2016 and 2019. This process can also be used with some Microsoft Windows Client systems, such as Windows 10 or Windows 11.

As you can see, it’s a very simple process and takes practically no time at all. However, if you do have any problems, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us so that we can help.

We also recommend that you check out our blog for similar content and tutorials.

Thanks for choosing Jotelulu!

Categories:Servers

Fill out the form and one of our Sales team will contact you soon.

growth@jotelulu.com  |  jotelulu.com 

You can unsubscribe from these communications at any time. For more information,  check our Privacy Policy.

 

We make the difficult easy

Existing Disaster Recovery tools often require advanced knowledge to manage, demanding expertise that is difficult to acquire.

Jotelulu’s Disaster Recovery aims to make the difficult easy and offers a very simple deployment based on a three-step configuration:

Origin (Primary Site)
Determine the origin location of the subscription on which the Disaster Recovery service will be established.

Destination (Recovery Site)
Set the destination location (availability zone) where you want the Recovery Site to be deployed.

Replication characteristics
Specify the data related to the number of copies to be kept and the frequency at which the replication will be performed.