How to recover data from a failed Windows Storage Spaces pool on Windows Server 2025
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Author:
Vladimir Artiukh
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Editor:
Oleg Afonin
In this article we will examine how to recover data from a destroyed software RAID array assembled using Windows Storage Spaces on Windows Server 2025. We will also discuss the process of creating a RAID array using Disk Management, via Windows Storage Spaces and the Diskpart command-line utility. Most importantly — what to do if access to the disk array is lost or the RAID is damaged.
- How to create a RAID on Windows Server 2025
- How to recover data from a destroyed Windows Storage Spaces pool
- Conclusion
- Questions and answers
- Comments
Loss of access to data as a result of a failed Windows Storage Spaces pool on a server is one of the most critical situations for any organization. This is especially true for a new server platform such as Windows Server 2025, which uses modern storage virtualization mechanisms and software RAID.
The Windows Storage Spaces technology allows combining physical disks into fault-tolerant pools with different resiliency types (Simple, Mirror, Parity). However, hardware failures, metadata corruption, update errors, sudden power loss, or simultaneous failure of multiple drives can lead to pool destruction and loss of access to files.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Implementation type | Software-defined storage (software storage virtualization) |
| Supported disks | SATA, SAS, NVMe, SSD, HDD |
| Minimum number of disks | 1 (Simple), 2 (Mirror), 3 (Parity) |
| File systems | ReFS (recommended for servers), NTFS |
| Pool expansion | Online addition of disks without stopping the server |
| Scalability | Support for large storage pools (dozens of disks and more) |
| Recovery options | Via PowerShell, built-in OS tools or specialized software |
In this article we will analyze what happens when Storage Spaces is damaged, which causes most often lead to RAID destruction, and most importantly — how to safely recover data without worsening the situation. You will learn which tools are built into Windows Server 2025, when recovery with standard tools is possible, and in which cases specialized software will be required.
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How to create a RAID on Windows Server 2025
Method 1. How to create a RAID in Windows Storage Spaces
To create a RAID via Windows Storage Spaces, open Settings – System – Storage – Advanced storage settings – Storage Spaces.
Then click Add a new pool.
Next, specify a name and select the disks that will be part of the pool, then click Create.
Now specify the space name, its size and select the storage layout. I select Parity, then click Create.
After that, you need to initialize the volume in Disk Management, set the file system and assign a drive letter.
The RAID array is ready; you can now store data on it.
Method 2. How to create a RAID in Disk Management
The second way to create a RAID is using the Windows Disk Management tool. To open it, right-click the Start menu and select Disk Management.
To create a RAID 5, at least 3 disks are required.
As you can see, I have three identical hard drives that will be used to build a RAID level 5.
To create a RAID, right-click one of the available disks and select – Create RAID-5 Volume.
Next, add all disks that will form the array and click Next.
Now assign a drive letter and specify the file system.
As a result, the drives will be formatted, so be careful when selecting disks because you can overwrite important data if you choose the wrong drive.
After closing the New Volume Wizard a message will appear indicating that disks need to be converted, which will irreversibly delete all information. Since the disks in our example are empty, click Yes.
After conversion and creation of RAID 5, a resynchronization process will start on the disks. The duration of this process depends on disk capacity and can be lengthy.
After resynchronization completes we get our RAID.
Method 3. How to create a RAID via the command line and Diskpart
If your server does not have a graphical interface, you can create a RAID using the Diskpart utility.
DiskPart is a built-in Windows console utility for managing disks, partitions and volumes. It is used to configure storage via the command line and provides advanced administration capabilities that are not available in the GUI Disk Management tool.
To start this utility in the command prompt type – diskpart.
diskpart
Then run list disk to display all connected drives.
list disk
Now, having determined which disks will form the RAID, we need to convert them to dynamic disks.
Type select disk and specify the number of the required disk.
select disk
Then enter the command – convert dynamic to perform the conversion.
convert dynamic
Repeat the procedure for all disks that will make up the array:
select disk 2
convert dynamic
select disk 3
convert dynamic
Now, to create a RAID 5, enter the command:
create volume raid disk=1,2,3
After creation, format the new volume with the following command:
format fs=ntfs quick label='RAID_Volume'
Where NTFS is the file system and RAID_Volume is the volume label.
Then assign it a drive letter with the following command:
assign letter=R
To verify, run the command list volume — it will show the array status.
list volume
As you can see, our array is in the synchronization process, status - Rebuild.
For detailed information run the command detail volume — it will show which disks compose the RAID.
detail volume
If one of the disks has failed, it can be replaced using the repair command.
repair
Prepare the drive:
diskpart
list disk
select disk 4
convert dynamic
Find the volume with status - Failed Redundancy.
Select that volume:
select volume 1
Use the repair command specifying the number of the new disk that will replace the failed one:
repair disk=4
Then wait for synchronization to complete.
This is how you can replace a failed drive.
How to recover data from a destroyed Windows Storage Spaces pool
How to recover data after loss of access to the array
Now let’s consider the situation of losing access to the array. To retrieve data from a destroyed RAID array you will need software that can reconstruct the array and allow extraction of information from the drives.
Hetman RAID Recovery is a powerful tool for data loss situations on disks. Thanks to a robust search algorithm you can find not only data remaining on the drives but also deleted files. The program supports all popular RAID types and works with most file systems. You can also install it on PCs running Windows, Linux or macOS.
Connect the drives that were part of the array to a computer. After that, download, install and run the software.
The program will automatically reconstruct the RAID from the drives. Detected array parameters that the program could determine will be displayed below. To search for lost data, right-click the volume and select – Open.
Then select the analysis type – Quick Scan or Full Analysis. Start with Quick Scan to see whether the program can find remaining files on the drives.
As you can see, the program easily found and displayed all remaining files on the drive. Mark the required files and click – Recover.
Then specify the path where to save them (drive and folder). After completion they will be stored in the specified location.
If the program did not find the required files, perform a Full Analysis. To do this return to the main menu, right-click the disk and select Analyze again – Full Analysis. Specify the file system and click Next.
The full analysis process can take a long time; wait for it to complete. Then you will be able to mark the required files and recover them.
How to assemble the RAID using Hetman RAID Recovery’s RAID constructor
In some situations the program may not assemble the RAID automatically. This can occur due to damage to parts of the service metadata on the disk. In that case you will need to assemble it manually, and you must know the RAID parameters.
To do this, open the RAID Constructor and select manual mode.
Here you need to specify the RAID type, the stripe order and the stripe size.
Next, add the disks that comprised the array and specify their order.
If the parameters are correct you will see partitions and folders below. If no partitions are present, it may be necessary to specify the disk start offset. For this use the hex editor.
Right-click the drive and select – Hex Editor.
To find the disk start for a GPT partition scheme and the NTFS file system search for the sequence - 45 46 49 20 50 41 52 54 (or in text form - EFI PART).
As a result we found the disk start offset which must be specified when building the array in the RAID constructor.
Now, having specified all parameters, click Add, after which the RAID array will appear in the disk manager. Then analyze and recover the required files.
Conclusion
Destruction of a storage pool in Windows Storage Spaces on Windows Server 2025 is a serious but not hopeless situation. Even with metadata corruption, configuration errors or partial drive failure, in most cases data can be recovered with a correct and careful approach.
The key rule — do not perform hasty actions: do not recreate the pool, do not initialize the drives and do not format volumes before conducting diagnostics. In some cases recovery is possible with the system’s standard tools via PowerShell and administrative utilities. If the pool structure is severely damaged, specialized software will be required to reconstruct the configuration and extract data.
Experience shows that recovery success directly depends on the integrity of the drives and the minimal number of write operations after the failure. Therefore, at the first signs of a problem it is recommended to create bit-level copies of the drives and work with those images.
A sound backup strategy and storage health monitoring significantly reduce the risk of such incidents in the future. However, even in the event of a critical Storage Spaces failure on Windows Server 2025 the chances for successful data recovery remain reasonably high when the correct sequence of actions is followed.
