Storage pool/Storage Space gone in Windows 10, Disks still appear as "Storage Pool", Drive not showing up in This PC

Question

Hi, I was using my RAID Enclosure: https://media.jaycar.com.au/product/resources/XC4688_manualMain_87203.pdf with 2 8TB HDDs in RAID 1, everything was working for a while then one day I plugged in a new device and bumped it or something, I'm not sure if this is really related, but then it suddenly stopped appearing in This PC. It was set up as a storage pool as 'Drive X' but now it's almost entirely inaccessible. It still appears in Disk Management, they used to appear as 1 disk but appear as 2 again now like when setting them up.

And Storage Spaces doesn't recognize and storage pools when they are connected anymore.

Answer 1

So it has been 11 days of staying up way too late, barely sleeping and letting my computer scan for almost a day at a time.

Apparently hardware level raid 1 is terrible and never for consumer use. Nobody really talks about the dangers of it.

A painful lesson to learn.

After many attempts at data recovery, the only application that helped me was DMDE, which allowed me to open the disk and copy off the files. It preserved the original file structure too. Much gratitude to DMDE.

Answer 2

Yes, trying it on another device is the next best step so you can identify if the HDD works. Is your current device a laptop or a desktop?

Answer 3

Hi!

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum.

Based from your information, everything is working until you plugged in another device, what device is it? Have you tried removing that device and check all the plugs(reconnect everything) to check for loose connection via cables. (as you mentioned you bumped it).

You can also try and connect your enclosure to another device if it will be recognized in that way we can narrow down where the fault came from.

Answer 4

Hi!

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum.

Based from your information, everything is working until you plugged in another device, what device is it? Have you tried removing that device and check all the plugs(reconnect everything) to check for loose connection via cables. (as you mentioned you bumped it).

You can also try and connect your enclosure to another device if it will be recognized in that way we can narrow down where the fault came from.

Answer 5

The disks are still visible because they contain a Storage Spaces protective partition, but Windows no longer sees a valid Storage Spaces pool to attach, so no volume appears in This PC.

Key points from Storage Spaces behavior:

1. USB/RAID enclosures can become ineligible for Storage Spaces.
   • Storage Spaces only works with disks that Windows recognizes as eligible physical disks.
   • Many USB RAID enclosures add an abstraction layer or present disks as removable or as a single virtual device, which can cause Storage Spaces to exclude them by design.
   • If the enclosure firmware or mode changed (for example after a bump, power event, or switch of RAID mode/port), Windows may now see the disks differently and treat them as non‑poolable/removable, so the existing pool cannot be brought online.
2. Why the pool no longer appears in Storage Spaces.
   • When Storage Spaces cannot match the physical disks to an existing pool (for example because the enclosure now exposes them differently), the pool will not show up in the Storage Spaces UI.
   • Disk Management therefore only shows each disk with a “Storage Spaces Protective Partition” and no usable volume.
3. What can be checked with PowerShell.
   • Run PowerShell as administrator and list physical disks:

          Get-PhysicalDisk | Format-Table FriendlyName, MediaType, Size, CanPool, CannotPoolReason
     

   • If CanPool is False, the CannotPoolReason will explain why (for example Removable media, In a pool, Not healthy, Offline, Insufficient capacity).
   • If the disks show Removable media or Not usable, they cannot be used by Storage Spaces in this enclosure configuration.
4. If the goal is data recovery (do NOT do this if data must be preserved):
   • Any action such as Clear-Disk, converting to dynamic disk, deleting partitions, or creating a new pool will erase data. These steps are only appropriate if the data is already backed up elsewhere.
5. If the goal is to reuse the disks (data can be lost):
   • Bring any offline disks online and clear read‑only flags if needed:

          Get-Disk | Where-Object OperationalStatus -eq 'Offline' | Set-Disk -IsOffline $false
          Get-Disk | Where-Object IsReadOnly -eq $true | Set-Disk -IsReadOnly $false
     

   • If CannotPoolReason is Insufficient capacity, delete existing volumes/partitions (this erases data) or use Clear-Disk to wipe them, then create a new storage pool and storage space.

Given the use of a USB RAID enclosure, the most likely cause is that the enclosure is no longer presenting the drives in a way that Storage Spaces accepts (for example, now classified as removable or as a different virtual device). In that case, re‑creating the pool will be possible only after wiping the disks, and recovering existing data would require a backup or a specialized data‑recovery service.

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References:

• Storage Spaces in Windows
• Troubleshoot Storage Spaces and Storage Spaces Direct health and operational states