Storage Spaces Direct very low available space

storage-spaceswindows-server-2016

I'm testing S2D. I have created cluster from 2 VMs and call PowerShell

Enable-ClusterStorageSpacesDirect -SkipEligibilityChecks -Confirm -CacheState Disabled

List of storage

Type Node Size  Used Percent
---- ---- ----  ---- -------
HDD  1    21GB     0 0%
HDD  1    129GB    0 0%
HDD  1    107GB    0 0%
HDD  1    140GB    0 0%
HDD  1    118GB    0 0%
HDD  1    11GB     0 0%
HDD  2    21GB     0 0%
HDD  2    129GB    0 0%
HDD  2    107GB    0 0%
HDD  2    118GB    0 0%
HDD  2    140GB    0 0%
HDD  2    11GB     0 0%

In Failover Manager I can see that S2D Clustered Windows Storage has 986 GB free space, but when I try to create new volume, the maximum available capacity is 51 GB. I would expect ~490 GB. Any clues why the maximum is such low? Which steps am I missing?

Update
Adding extra 300 GB drive to each VM increased free space to 1.51 TB and maximum volume size to 63 GB. Still not satisfied with the result.

Best Answer

I vote for shared storage. For the case, StarWind Virtual SAN Free seems to be a better option. Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct are more about Enterprise having requirements to underlying storage and Windows Server's licenses. https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server-docs/storage/storage-spaces/choosing-drives

From my perspective, StarWind Virtual SAN would work here better since does not have mandatory requirements to underlying storage and provide shared storage on top of underlying with less to none penalty to both performance and capacity. https://www.starwindsoftware.com/starwind-virtual-san-free

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