The trick to faster parity speeds on windows storage spaces

Introduction

This tutorial aims to enhance your understanding of optimizing parity speeds in Windows Storage Spaces. By adjusting the NTFS cluster size and interleave size, you can significantly improve write speeds. This guide will take you through creating a volume using both the GUI and PowerShell, along with insights into how these settings affect performance.

Step 1: Understand Cluster and Interleave Size

• Cluster Size: The smallest unit of storage that the file system can allocate. A larger cluster size can improve the speed of write operations but may lead to wasted space.
• Interleave Size: Refers to how data is distributed across multiple drives. Adjusting this can optimize how data is read and written, impacting performance.

Practical Advice

• For optimal performance, consider using a larger cluster size (e.g., 64KB) and adjusting the interleave size to suit your workload.
• Experiment with different sizes based on your specific storage needs.

Step 2: Create a Volume Using the GUI

1. Open the Storage Spaces control panel.
2. Click on Create a new pool and storage space.
3. Select the drives you want to include and click Create pool.
4. Choose the type of storage space (e.g., Parity).
5. In the Advanced settings, adjust the cluster size to your preference (e.g., 64KB).
6. Set the interleave size according to your needs (e.g., 64KB).
7. Complete the setup by clicking Create storage space.

Practical Tips

• Ensure your drives are healthy and formatted before beginning.
• Monitor the performance after creating the volume to evaluate any improvements.

Step 3: Create a Volume Using PowerShell

1. Open PowerShell as an administrator.
2. Use the following command to create a new storage pool:

   New-StoragePool -FriendlyName "MyPool" -StorageSubsystemFriendlyName "Windows Storage*" -PhysicalDisks (Get-PhysicalDisk -CanPool $true)
   

3. Create a new volume with specific cluster and interleave sizes:

   New-VirtualDisk -StoragePoolFriendlyName "MyPool" -FriendlyName "MyVirtualDisk" -ResiliencySettingName "Parity" -Size 1TB -ProvisioningType Thin -AllocationUnitSize 64KB
   

4. Format the volume using the following command:

   Format-Volume -DriveLetter "E" -FileSystem NTFS -NewFileSystemLabel "MyVolume"
   

Practical Advice

• Adjust the -Size parameter according to your storage requirements.
• Use -AllocationUnitSize to set your desired cluster size.

Step 4: Understand How This Works Under the Hood

• The combination of cluster size and interleave size influences how data is read from and written to the disks.
• Larger cluster sizes can reduce the overhead of managing small files, while interleave size helps balance the load across multiple disks.

Common Pitfalls

• Setting cluster sizes too large can lead to wasted space if you frequently store small files.
• Failing to monitor performance after changes can result in missed opportunities for optimization.

Conclusion

By understanding and adjusting NTFS cluster and interleave sizes, you can significantly enhance the performance of Windows Storage Spaces. Whether you choose to use the GUI or PowerShell, these steps will help you create optimized storage solutions. Remember to monitor performance and adjust settings as necessary to meet your specific needs. Consider experimenting with different configurations to find the best setup for your workflow.