Reset Disk - Windows Storage Server 2012

Question

I set up windows storage server 2012 and have 6 SATA drives in a raid configuration.

Prior to production use I tested by removing drive and adding a spare and rebuilding. That went fine.

Now I see that the original drive can not be reused in the array (and the spare in a different drive slot) unless I presume it is re initialized.

In the same server I had one more sata connector so I am using that and trying to "reset" or "format" the original drive or the spare.. but the format option does not illuminate (it is disabled) offline option doesn't take off line but I can toggle from dynamic disk and static disk...

How can I reset the drive w/o finding a different PC?

Solution

The solution to clear the disk was:

1. run diskpart
2. list disk
3. select disk 0/1/2...
4. clean

Comments

[phoenixAZ]

Yes - I believe so. In Disk Management it shows colored and the legend says "primary partition" after the word healthy it says "Storage Spaces Protective Partition" .. I guess I want to flush that out.

[TheFiddlerWins]

I think you have to delete the partition before you can reinitialize the disk.

[Nathan C]

You could always use some tool to low-level format the drive, then stick it back in the array. GParted is a popular one.

[Rex]

It differs because it doesn't answer the question. This would only delete the partition. It won't reset the disk.