Not that long ago, I found myself with a Windows 2016 server that had run out of space in a virtual disk on its main storage pool. I put two new drives in and started the process of adding to the storage pool so we could expand the virtual disk. As this was happening, space was cleared up on the virtual disk, so expansion was no longer needed, and now we need to reclaim those new drives for use elsewhere. The problem is that the virtual disk is now spread across these drives. I know I can use Remove-PhysicalDisk to remove drives from the pool, but not if they're in use. Is there a way to tell the virtual disk not to use those physical disks before removing them from the storage pool? Like a reverse Optimize-StoragePool? Is there a way to shrink this storage pool without data loss, bearing in mind that the virtual disk is the same size it's always been?
Windows – Removing healthy drives from a Storage Pool without causing data loss
windowswindows-server-2016
Best Answer
P.S. Don't use "simple" VD in Storage Spaces, you have a big chances to lose all your data.