Distinguish a Storage Spaces pool from the resiliency of each virtual disk

Source facts

Storage Spaces combines physical drives into logical pools and creates virtual disks from the pooled capacity. Microsoft describes choosing resiliency and performance characteristics for each virtual disk. A simple space stripes data without redundancy, so a drive failure can lose data. Mirror spaces duplicate data into two or three copies, providing a different protection model from a simple space. Microsoft documentation.

Applicability

Identify the physical drives, pool, virtual disks, workload data, and required recovery behavior. Review the supported hardware and configuration for the actual Storage Spaces design rather than inferring protection from a pool name.

DSE recommendation

Prepare a mapping from each workload to its virtual disk and selected resiliency. Have the data owner explicitly approve any simple space and document how its contents can be recreated or recovered. Keep the physical pool inventory separate from the virtual-disk protection decision.

Verification

Inspect the actual virtual-disk resiliency and compare it with the approved mapping. Verify representative file access and the documented recovery procedure using an authorized test. Record unprotected data or an unexpected virtual-disk layout as a finding before expanding the workload onto that storage.

Official references

Microsoft Learn: Storage Spaces overview. Source reviewed September 8, 2026.