1. Implementing Local Storage
20410B
9: Implementing Local Storage
Presentation: 30 minutes
Lab: 30 minutes
After completing this module, students will be able to:
Describe the various storage technologies.
Explain how to manage disks and volumes.
Explain how to implement Storage Spaces.
Required materials
To teach this module, you need the Microsoft® Office PowerPoint® file 20410B_09.pptx.
Important: It is recommended that you use Office PowerPoint 2007 or a newer version to display the slides for this course. If you use PowerPoint Viewer or an earlier version of PowerPoint, all the features of the slides might not display correctly.
Preparation tasks
To prepare for this module:
Read all of the materials for this module.
Practice performing the lab exercises.
Work through the Module Review and Takeaways section, and determine how you will use this section to reinforce student learning and promote knowledge transfer to on-the-job performance.
Module 9
Implementing Local Storage

2. Implementing Storage Spaces
20410B
Module Overview
9: Implementing Local Storage
Implementing Storage Spaces
Briefly describe the lessons included in this module.

3. Lesson 1: Overview of Storage
20410B
Lesson 1: Overview of Storage
9: Implementing Local Storage
RAID Levels
Briefly describe the topics included in this lesson.

4. Disk Types and Performance
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Disk Types and Performance
9: Implementing Local Storage
As performance increases, so does cost
SSD
Provide an overview of the types of disks that are available options for storage. Mention that in servers, normally you find serial attached SCSI (SAS) disks because they are more reliable. Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) disks are cheap and provide mass storage, but are not built for 24/7 server operations. Finally, discuss the role of Solid State Drives (SSDs), which are capable of providing extremely fast performance, but also are extremely expensive.
Ask students what their companies are using, and why they think that type of storage was chosen.
SAS
Performance
Slow Slow ~ 150 IOPS ~210 IOPS Fast: 1.5mio IPOS
SCSI
SATA
EIDE
Cost

5. What Is Direct Attached Storage?
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What Is Direct Attached Storage?
9: Implementing Local Storage
DAS disks are physically attached to the server
Explain that direct attached storage (DAS) is probably the most common storage found today. Also, ensure that students know that DAS is easy to install and configure; however, managing a large deployment of servers that all use DAS can be complex because data is located in many different locations.
Mention that servers can use DAS along with other types of storage. In many cases, servers use DAS for the system drives that are used to boot the computer, and then use a network attached storage (NAS) device or storage area network (SAN) storage to store data.
Advantages: Disadvantages:
Easy to configure
Inexpensive solution
Isolated because it attaches only to a single server
Slower
Server with attached disks

6. What Is Network Attached Storage?
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What Is Network Attached Storage?
9: Implementing Local Storage
NAS is storage that is attached to a dedicated storage device and accessed through network shares
Advantages:
One key point to make is that NAS is usually operated by software and has latency associated with it. NAS can be either a Windows® Storage Server or some sort of clustering software, but essentially it is a file server with no other role capabilities.
Consider drawing a diagram of a server with DAS, including both the internal disks and a directly attached disk enclosure. Use this diagram to compare DAS with NAS and SANs.
NAS Device
Relatively inexpensive
Easy to configure
Local Area Network (Ethernet)
Disadvantages:
Slower access times
Not an enterprise solution
File-level access
(CIFS, NFS)
NAS offers centralized storage at an affordable price
File Server

7. 20410B
What Is a SAN?
9: Implementing Local Storage
SANs offers higher availability with the most flexibility
Advantages:
Explain to students that compared to other storage types such as NAS, SAN has the most flexibility; however, it is the most expensive to implement. Further, after implementation, SAN takes specialist skills to run and maintain.
Use the diagram on the slide to illustrate how a SAN is implemented. Start by showing a simple SAN deployment with one or two servers, a single network switch, and a single storage device. Then expand the complexity and describe how you can increase redundancy, performance, and capacity by adding more network connections and paths and by adding more storage devices.
Fastest access times
Easily expandable
Centralized storage
High level of redundancy
Servers
Switches
Disadvantages:
More expensive
Requires specialized skills
Storage Devices
SANs can be implemented using Fibre Channel or iSCSI

8. 20410B
What Is RAID?
9: Implementing Local Storage
RAID combines multiple disks into a single logical unit to provide fault tolerance and performance
RAID provides fault tolerance by using:
Disk mirroring
Parity information
RAID can provide performance benefits by spreading disk I/O across multiple disks
RAID can be configured using several different levels
RAID should not replace server backups
Explain to students that RAID is important when you want to provide failover capability in situations where hard disks fail. Explain the benefits of RAID, and explain that it relies on disk mirroring and parity information to provide fault tolerance.
Explain that there are different RAID levels available.

9. RAID Levels RAID 1+0 RAID 6 RAID 0 RAID 1 RAID 5
20410B
RAID Levels
9: Implementing Local Storage
Each pair of disks is mirrored, then the mirrored disks
are striped
RAID 1+0
Block level striped set with parity distributed across
all disks
RAID 6
Mirrored drives
RAID 1
Block level striped set with parity distributed across all disks
RAID 5
Striped set without parity or mirroring
RAID 0
This animated build slide contains multiple builds showing the different RAID levels. You will need to click four times to show all five RAID levels depicted on the slide, which are (in order):
RAID 0 (first slide, no click necessary)
RAID 1
RAID 5
RAID 6
RAID (or 10)
Make sure that you spend enough time on the builds so that students understand the differences between each RAID level. Also relate each RAID level on the slide to the RAID table in the student manual.
Focus on the concepts of performance, redundancy, and storage utilization as you discuss each type of RAID. Students should see that the different RAID levels provide different options for addressing these three primary considerations.
Mention that the most common types of RAID are RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 1+0.
Question
Should all disks be configured with the same amount of fault tolerance?
Answer
No, not all disks need the same tolerance. A common practice is to use RAID 1 for the operating system volume and use RAID 5 for the data volumes.

10. Lesson 2: Managing Disks and Volumes
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Lesson 2: Managing Disks and Volumes
9: Implementing Local Storage
Extending and Shrinking Volumes
Briefly describe the topics included in this lesson.

11. Selecting a Partition Table Format
9: Implementing Local Storage
MBR
Standard Partition table format since early 1980s
Supports a maximum of 4 primary partitions per drive
Can partition a disk up to 2 TB
Provide an overview of the two partition table formats that are available in Windows: master boot record (MBR) and globally unique identifier (GUID) partition table (GPT). Mention that MBR has been around for more than 30 years, and that GPT is the enhanced version of MBR, which addresses larger disks.
GPT
GPT is the successor of MBR partition table format
Supports a maximum of 128 partitions per drive
Can partition a disk up to 18 EB
Use MBR for disks smaller than 2 TB
Use GPT for disks larger than 2 TB

12. Selecting a Disk Type Basic disks are:
9: Implementing Local Storage
Basic disks are:
Disks initialized for basic storage
The default storage for Windows operating system
Dynamic disks can:
Be modified without restarting Windows
Provide several options for configuring volumes
Disk volume requirements include:
A system volume for hardware-specific files that are required to start the server
A boot volume for the Windows operating system files
Provide an overview of a basic disk and a dynamic disk.

13. Selecting a File System
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Selecting a File System
9: Implementing Local Storage
When selecting a file system, consider the differences between FAT, NTFS, and ReFS
FAT provides:
Basic file system
Partition size limitations
FAT32 to enable larger disks
exFAT developed for flash drives
NTFS provides:
Metadata
Auditing and journaling
Security (ACLs and encryption)
ReFS provides:
Backward compatibility support for NTFS
Enhanced data verification and error correction
Support for larger files, directories, volumes, etc.
Provide an overview of the available file systems in Windows operating systems: file allocation table (FAT), NTFS file system, and Resilient File System (ReFS). In particular, be sure to explain why ReFS was introduced with Windows Server® 2012, which was to make sure error verification and correction was still possible on volumes that were very large.
Discuss when you would use which file system, but generally stress that ReFS is currently the best solution for servers because it provides better error checking, better reliability, and less corruption. Windows 8 users should use NTFS.
Question
What file system do you currently use on your file server? Will you continue to use it?
Answer
Answers may vary. A common answer is NTFS, because NTFS should be the basis for any file system used on a Windows Server operating system. If you use FAT32 or Extended FAT (exFAT), you should be able to support your decision, because these file systems do not support security access control lists (ACLs) on files and folders.
The second part of the question focuses on switching to ReFS when upgrading to Windows Server You might answer yes because it is more reliable, or you might answer no, because you want to wait until it is used more widely in the market.

14. 20410B
What Is ReFS?
9: Implementing Local Storage
ReFS is a new file system that is built in to Windows Server Advantages include:
Metadata integrity with checksums
Integrity streams with user data integrity
Allocation on write transactional model
Large volume, file, and directory sizes (2^78 bytes with 16-KB cluster size)
Storage pooling and virtualization
Data striping for performance and redundancy
Disk scrubbing for protection against latent disk errors
Resiliency to corruptions with recovery
Shared storage pools across machines
Discuss the issues that prevent NTFS file systems from managing very large volumes when the file system does not provide sufficient error-tracking and self-repairing mechanisms, especially for multi-terabyte volumes.
For more information about ReFS, see

15. What Are Mount Points and Links?
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What Are Mount Points and Links?
9: Implementing Local Storage
A mount point is a reference to a location on a disk that enables Windows operating system access to disk resources
Use volume mount points:
To mount volumes or disks as folders instead of using drive letters
When you do not have drive letters available for creating new volumes
To add disk space without changing the folder structure
A link file contains a reference to another file or directory
Link options:
Symbolic file link (or, soft link)
Symbolic directory link (or, directory junctions)
As part of this topic presentation, consider demonstrating how to configure volume mount points and links. The steps for configuring volume mount points and links are covered in the following demonstration, but it might be easier for students to understand the concept if you show them this feature now.
Consider using server virtualization as an example of a situation when students might use volume mount points. One of the ways to gain performance with server virtualization is to store the .vhd files that are required by multiple virtual machines on different drives. By using volume mount points, you can store the .vhd files on separate hard drives while maintaining a consistent folder structure.

16. Demonstration: Creating Mount Points and Links
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Demonstration: Creating Mount Points and Links
9: Implementing Local Storage
In this demonstration, you will see how to:
Create a mount point
Create a directory junction for a folder
Create a hard link for a file
Preparation Steps
If necessary, start 20410B-LON-DC1 and 20410B-LON-SVR1.
Demonstration Steps
Create a mount point
Sign in to LON-SVR1 with the username Adatum\Administrator and the password Pa$$w0rd.
In Server Manager, click the Tools menu, and then click Computer Management.
In the Computer Management console, under the Storage node, click Disk Management.
In the Disks pane, right-click Disk2, and then click Online.
Right-click Disk2, and then click Initialize Disk.
In the Initialize Disk dialog box, select the Disk2 check box, make sure all the other Disk check boxes are cleared, click GPT (GUID Partition Table), and then click OK.
In the Computer Management console, in Disk Management, right-click the black box to the right of Disk2, and then click New Simple Volume.
In the New Simple Volume Wizard, on the Welcome to the New Simple Volume Wizard page, click Next.
On the Specify Volume Size page, in the Simple volume size in MB field, type 4000, and then click Next.
On Assign Drive Letter or Path page, click Do not assign a drive letter or drive path, and then click Next.
On the Format Partition page, from the File system drop-down list, click NTFS, in the Volume label text box, type MountPoint, and then click Next.
On the Completing the New Simple Volume Wizard page, click Finish.
Wait until the volume is created, right-click MountPoint, and then click Change Drive Letter and Paths.
(More notes on the next slide)

17. 9: Implementing Local Storage
20410B
9: Implementing Local Storage
In the Change Drive Letter and Paths for MountPoint dialog box, click Add.
On the Assign Drive Letter or Path page, click Mount in the following empty NTFS folder, and then click Browse.
In the Browse for Drive Path window, make sure that C:\ is selected, and then click New Folder.
In the Browse for Drive Path box, type MountPointFolder, and then click OK.
In the Add drive Letter or Path window, click OK.
On the taskbar, click the Windows Explorer icon, and then click Local Disk (C:). You should now see the MountPoint folder with a size of 4,095,996 KB assigned to it. Point out the icon assigned to the mount point.
Create a directory junction for a folder
Point the mouse at the lower-right corner of the screen, and when the side bar appears, click the Start charm.
In the Start box, type cmd, and then press Enter.
In the Command Prompt window, at the command prompt, type cd \, and then press Enter.
Type md CustomApp and then press Enter.
Type copy C:\windows\system32\notepad.exe C:\CustomApp, and then press Enter.
Type mklink /j AppLink CustomApp, and then press Enter.
In the Windows Explorer window, double-click the AppLink folder. Notice that because it is a link, the directory path in the address bar is not updated to C:\CustomApp.
Create a hard link for a file
At the command prompt, type mklink /h C:\AppLink\Notepad2.exe C:\AppLink\Notepad.exe, and then press Enter.
Switch to the Windows Explorer window and read the list of files. Notice that Notepad2.exe appears exactly the same as Notepad.exe. Both file names point to the same file.
Close all open Windows.

18. Extending and Shrinking Volumes
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Extending and Shrinking Volumes
9: Implementing Local Storage
You can resize NTFS volumes from the Windows operating system, beginning with Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008
In this topic, explain how to resize volumes. Start with a short discussion about when you would need to resize a disk. For example, you might want to extend a disk if a volume runs out of disk space. Mention that another way to create available file space in your system is to create mount points to other volumes.
Also mention that ReFS can only be extended; shrinking is not possible.
When you want to resize a disk, consider the following:
You can extend or shrink NTFS volumes
ReFS volumes can only be extended
FAT/FAT32/exFAT cannot be resized
You can shrink a volume only up to immovable files
Bad clusters on a disk will prevent you from shrinking a volume

19. Lesson 3: Implementing Storage Spaces
20410B
Lesson 3: Implementing Storage Spaces
9: Implementing Local Storage
Demonstration: Configuring Storage Spaces
Briefly describe the topics included in this lesson.

20. What Is the Storage Spaces Feature?
20410B
What Is the Storage Spaces Feature?
9: Implementing Local Storage
Use storage spaces to add physical disks of any type and size to a storage pool, and then create highly-available virtual disks from the storage pool
Physical Disks
Storage Pool
Virtual Disk
Disk Drive
Storage Spaces is usually misunderstood by students, so it is very important to define this feature. Explain to them that Storage Spaces is a functionality that groups physical disks together to reduce management workloads. If you feel it is necessary, demonstrate Storage Spaces.
Provide an overview of what you need to create a virtual disk that is available as a volume:
Physical disks
A storage pool
Virtual drives
Disk drives
Mention that virtual drives are not virtual hard disks (VHDs), and should be considered disks in Disk Manager.
To create a virtual disk, you need the following:
One or more physical disks
Storage pool that includes the disks
Virtual drives that are created with disks from the storage pool
Disk drives that are based on virtual drives
Virtual drives are not virtual hard disks (VHDs); they should be considered a drive in Disk Manager

21. Virtual Disk Configuration Options
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Virtual Disk Configuration Options
9: Implementing Local Storage
Feature
Options
Storage Layout
Simple
Two-way or three-way mirror
Parity
Disk sector size
512 or 512e
Drive allocation
Automatic
Hot Spare
Provisioning schemes
Thin vs. fixed provisioning
Discuss the different virtual disk redundancy features and their configuration. Provide examples when to use each one. For example, if you want to create a 10 gigabyte (GB) volume, but your disks in a storage pool only provide 5 GB of space (combined), then you would configure a virtual disk to be thin provisioned.
Question
What is the name for a virtual disk that is larger than the amount of disk space available on the physical disks portion of the storage pool?
Answer
This kind of virtual disk is a thin provisioned virtual disk. With a thin provisioned virtual disk, you can use the available space immediately, but you need to add more physical disks to the storage pool to provide the disk space required.

22. Advanced Management Options for Storage Spaces
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Advanced Management Options for Storage Spaces
9: Implementing Local Storage
Basic Management for Storage Spaces is available in Server Manager
For disk failure:
Do not use chkdsk or scan disk
Remove the drive and add a new one
Advanced management requires Windows PowerShell
This topic is about the advanced management options that are available for storage pools and virtual disks. You can start by pointing out that the most common tasks are available in Server Manager, such as creating or deleting a virtual disk or storage pool.
Then talk about how to replace a failed disk by adding a new disk to the storage pool.
Finally, explain some of the useful Windows PowerShell® cmdlets that students can use to manage virtual disks and storage pools.
Windows PowerShell cmdlet
Description
Get-StoragePool
List storage pools
Repair-VirtualDisk
Repair a virtual disk
Get-PhysicalDisk | Where{$_.HealthStatus -ne “Healthy”}
List unhealthy physical disks
Reset-PhysicalDisk
Remove a physical disk from a storage pool
Get-VirtualDisk | Get-PhysicalDisk
List physical disks used for a virtual disk

23. Demonstration: Configuring Storage Spaces
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Demonstration: Configuring Storage Spaces
9: Implementing Local Storage
In this demonstration, you will see how to:
Create a storage pool
Create a virtual disk and a volume
Preparation Steps
If necessary, start 20410B‑LON‑DC1 and 20410B‑LON‑SVR1.
Demonstration Steps
Create a storage pool
Sign in as Adatum\Administrator with the password Pa$$w0rd.
On LON‑SVR1, on the taskbar, click the Server Manager icon.
In Server Manager, in the left pane, click File and Storage Services, and in the Servers pane, click Storage Pools.
In the STORAGE POOLS pane, click TASKS and then in the TASKS drop-down list, click New Storage Pool.
In the New Storage Pool Wizard, on the Before you begin page, click Next.
On the Specify a storage pool name and subsystem page, in the Name box, type StoragePool1, and then click Next.
On the Select physical disks for the storage pool page, click all available physical disks, and then click Next.
On the Confirm selections page, click Create.
On the View results page, wait until task completes, and then click Close.
Create a virtual disk and a volume
Under Storage Pools, click StoragePool1.
In the VIRTUAL DISKS pane, click TASKS, and then in the TASKS drop-down list, click New Virtual Disk.
In the New Virtual Disk Wizard, on the Before you begin page, click Next.
(More notes on the next slide)

24. 9: Implementing Local Storage
20410B
9: Implementing Local Storage
On the Select the storage pool page, click StoragePool1, and then click Next.
On the Specify the virtual disk name page, in the Name box, type Simple vDisk, and then click Next.
On the Select the storage layout page, in the Layout list, select Simple, and then click Next.
On the Specify the provisioning type page, click Thin, and then click Next. You should mention that this configures thin provisioning for that volume.
On the Specify the size of the virtual disk page in the Virtual disk size box, type 2, and then click Next.
On the Confirm selections page, click Create.
On the View results page, wait until the task completes. Make sure that the Create a volume when this wizard closes check box is selected, and then click Close.
In the New Volume Wizard, on the Before you begin page, click Next.
On the Select the server and disk page, under Disk, click Simple vDisk virtual disk, and then click Next.
On the Specify the size of the volume page, click Next to confirm the default selection.
On the Assign to a drive letter or folder page, click Next to confirm the default selection.
On the Select file system settings page, in the File system drop-down list, select ReFS, in the Volume label box, type Simple Volume, and then click Next.
On the Completion page, wait until the task completes, and then click Close.

25. Lab: Implementing Local Storage
Exercise 3: Configuring a Redundant Storage Space
Before the students begin the lab, read the lab scenario and display the next slide. Before each exercise, read the scenario associated with the exercise to the class. The scenarios give context to the lab and exercises, and help to facilitate the discussion at the end of the lab. Remind the students to complete the discussion questions after the last lab exercise.
Exercise 1: Installing and Configuring a New Disk
The file server in your branch office is low on disk space. You need to add a new disk to the server and create volumes based on specifications provided by your manager.
Exercise 2: Resizing Volumes
After installing the new disk in your file server, you are contacted by your manager who indicates that the information he gave you was incorrect. He now needs you to resize the volumes without losing any data.
Exercise 3: Configuring a Redundant Storage Space
Your server does not have a hardware-based RAID card, but you have been asked to configure redundant storage. To support this feature, you need to create a storage pool.
After creating the storage pool, you also need to create a redundant virtual disk. As the data is critical, the request for redundant storage specifies that you need to use a three-way mirrored volume. Shortly after the volume is in use, a disk fails and you have to add another disk to the storage pool to replace it.
Logon Information
Virtual machines B-LON-DC1
20410B-LON-SVR1
User name Adatum\Administrator
Password Pa$$w0rd
Estimated Time: 30 minutes

26. 20410B
Lab Scenario
9: Implementing Local Storage
A. Datum Corporation is a global engineering and manufacturing company with a head office based in London, England. An IT office and a data center are located in London to support the London location and other locations. A. Datum has recently deployed a Windows Server infrastructure with Windows 8 clients.
You have been working for A. Datum for several years as a desktop support specialist. In this role, you visited desktop computers to troubleshoot application and network problems. You have recently accepted a promotion to the server support team. One of your first assignments is configuring the infrastructure service for a new branch office.
Your manager has asked to add disk space to a file server. After creating volumes, your manager has also asked you to resize those volumes based on updated information he has been given. Finally, you need to make data storage redundant by creating a three-way mirrored virtual disk.

27. 20410B
Lab Review
9: Implementing Local Storage
You have a USB-attached disk, four SAS disks, and one SATA disk that are attached to a Windows Server 2012 server. You want to provide a single volume to your users that they can use for file storage. What would you use?
Question
At a minimum, how many disks must you add to a storage pool to create a three-way mirrored virtual disk?
Answer
You require at least five disks. If you do not have five disks available in disk pool, you can only create a two-way mirrored virtual disk.
You have a USB-attached disk, four SAS disks, and one SATA disk that are attached to a Windows Server server. You want to provide a single volume to your users that they can use for file storage. What would you use?
Answers may vary.
The most common answer might be to create a storage pool out of the existing disks, and then create a virtual disk that spans all of the disks and has the largest capacity possible.
For reliability reasons, USB disks should not be part of a storage pool. However, you can mix the disk types in a storage pool and create highly available disks using two-way or three-way mirroring or parity for virtual disks.

28. Module Review and Takeaways
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Module Review and Takeaways
9: Implementing Local Storage
Best Practices
Review Questions
Question
Your current volume runs out of disk space. You have another disk available in the same server. What actions in the Windows operating system can you perform to help you add disk space?
Answer
Your answers can include converting the disk to a dynamic disk and extending the volume with the second disk. You can also use the second disk as a mount point to move some large files and re-assign their path. You could also use links to move large files to the new volume, and then create a link from their original location.
What are the two different types of disks in Disk Management?
The two different types of disks are basic and dynamic disks.
What are the most important implementations of RAID?
The most important implementations of RAID are:
RAID 1: Mirrored set without parity or striping
RAID 5: Striped set with parity
RAID 6: Striped set with dual distributed parity
RAID 1+0: Mirrored drives configured as a strip set
You attach five 2 TB disks to your Windows Server 2012 computer. You want to manage them almost automatically, and if one disk fails, you want to make sure the data is not lost. What feature can you implement to accomplish this?
You can implement the Storage Spaces feature, create a storage pool with all five disks, and then create a virtual disk with parity or mirroring to make it highly available. Alternatively, you could create a RAID-5 volume in Disk Management, but this would not manage the disks automatically.
(More notes on the next slide)

29. 9: Implementing Local Storage
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9: Implementing Local Storage
Tools
Best Practices
The following are recommended best practices:
If you want to shrink a volume, defragment the volume first so you can reclaim more space from the volume.
Use the GPT partition table format for disks larger than 2 TB.
For very large volumes, use ReFS.
Do not use FAT or FAT32 on Windows Server operating system disks.
Use the Storage Spaces feature to have the Windows operating system manage your disks.
Tool
Use
Where to find it
Disk Management
Initialize disks
Create and modify volumes
In Server Manager on the Tools menu (part of Computer Management)
Diskpart.exe
Create and modify volumes from a command prompt
Command prompt
Mklink.exe
Create a symbolic link to a file or folder
Chkdsk.exe
Check a disk for a NTFS–formatted volume
Cannot be used for ReFS or virtual disks
Defrag.exe
Disk defragmentation tool for NTFS–formatted volumes.