Can storage-spaces drives be moved to a replacement server when there is a failure

Question

I have tried to search here and Google, but cannot find a case explaining this. Storage spaces is similar to software raid. If the server fails due to motherboard or some other issue, can the drives that comprise that storage spaces config be moved to another win2k12 server without restoring from backup? This can be done in linux software raid.

If so, does the storage space config have to be re-created prior to the move, or do the drives hold the config so they are essentially plug and play?

Thanks.

Solution

Yes.

What happens to Storage Spaces when moving physical disks between servers?

Storage Spaces records information about pools and storage spaces on the physical disks that compose the storage pool. Therefore, your pool and storage spaces are preserved when you move an entire storage pool and its physical disks from one computer to another.

Windows Server 2012 starts storage that could potentially be shared with a cluster in a safe state. For Storage Spaces, that means the first time Windows connects to a storage pool, the pool starts as read-only and the storage spaces will start in a detached state. To access your data, you must set the storage pool to read-write and then attach the storage spaces.

These steps do not apply to Windows 8 – storage pools start as read-write and storage spaces start as attached

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/11382.storage-spaces-frequently-asked-questions-faq.aspx#What_happens_to_Storage_Spaces_when_moving_physical_disks_between_servers