Replacing drive in two-way mirror storage space with larger drive

[Valantar]

Thanks to Jimbob200521's thread, I now know I have to replace one of my backup drives. My current backup system is a Storage Space (two-way mirror) with two 2tb WD Green drives. What I can't figure out (after reading Microsoft's FAQ and a little googling) is wether I can take this opportunity to replace the drive with a larger one. 2TB is getting to be small, and I'd like to replace the drive with a 4TB WD Red, but I can't really afford replacing both at once. Does anyone know if this is possible? I'm guessing the storage space will have no problem recognizing the drive, but will I be able to expand it to the full 4TB capacity when I replace the second drive?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Sure.

With storage spaces, at least the way I remember it, you won't be able to expand the mirrored volume any, but you can use the additional capacity of the new drive as a simple (no redundancy) volume.

 

[Valantar]

Sure.

With storage spaces, at least the way I remember it, you won't be able to expand the mirrored volume any, but you can use the additional capacity of the new drive as a simple (no redundancy) volume.

Well, that sucks. The whole point of replacing it with a larger drive is to expand backup space, after all. Which means I need two new drives, to set up a new storage space, and then transfer the whole shebang.

 

[PliotronX]

I wonder if introducing one drive at a time and letting it rebuild the mirror might work and then expanding the space that way. I've never tried this with hardware raid but I have been able to pair a larger drive to replace a smaller one without issue. Its possible that after going through that though that windows won't let you adjust the original pool size.

Edit- oh sorry I read the full thing and no the pool will remain the size of the smallest drive (4TB paired with 2TB) but once you get another 4TB I can't tell you

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Well, that sucks. The whole point of replacing it with a larger drive is to expand backup space, after all. Which means I need two new drives, to set up a new storage space, and then transfer the whole shebang.

Yes. Well, at least you need two drives. You should be able to replace one, rebuild, replace the other, rebuild, and then expand the space.