On Windows 10, you can combine multiple drives to create a bigger logical storage using a RAID 5 configuration to improve performance and protect your files from a single drive failure.

While there are many RAID (redundant array of independent disks) levels that you can use, when using the striped volume with parity (RAID 5), the data is spread across three or more drives using parity. In the event of a hardware failure, you can replace the drive, and the data will be regenerated from the data on the other drives.

Although you can use a hardware-based solution on Windows 10, if you try to set up a software-based RAID 5 with Disk Management, you’ll notice that the option is grayed out because it’s only available on Windows Server. However, you can use Storage Spaces to create a striped volume with the parity that works just like a RAID 5 configuration.

In this guide, you’ll learn the steps to set up a RAID 5 storage on Windows 10 using Storage Spaces.

Create a RAID 5 storage from Storage Spaces on Windows 10

To set up a RAID 5 storage from Storage Spaces on Windows 10, use these steps:

  • Open Settings on Windows 10.
  • Click on System.
  • Click on Storage.
  • Under the “More Storage settings” section, click the “Manage Storage Spaces” option.
  • Click the “Create a new pool and storage space” option.
  • Select the drives (at least three) to create a storage pool.
  • Click the Create pool option.
  • Under the “Name and drive letter” section, specify a name, letter, and file system for the storage array.
  • Under the “Resiliency” section, use the “Resiliency type” drop-down menu and select the Parity option, which is equivalent to the RAID 5 level.
  • Under the “Size” section, specify the maximum size as needed.
  • Important: Change the size option carefully because a pool can be larger than the actual physical capacity, and if you run out of space, you’ll need to add more drives. You can refer to this Microsoft TechNet page to calculate the parity of the storage space. For this guide, I’m dividing the total pool capacity by three, and multiplying it by two, because I’m using three drives, and on a RAID 5 configuration, you will always lose one drive for parity.
  • Click the Create storage space button.

Once you complete the steps, the RAID 5 storage will be created to start storing files with fault tolerance, and if one of the drives fails, the data will still be accessible.

Open Settings on Windows 10.

Click on System.

Click on Storage.

Under the “More Storage settings” section, click the “Manage Storage Spaces” option.

Click the “Create a new pool and storage space” option.

Select the drives (at least three) to create a storage pool.

Click the Create pool option.

Under the “Name and drive letter” section, specify a name, letter, and file system for the storage array.

Under the “Resiliency” section, use the “Resiliency type” drop-down menu and select the Parity option, which is equivalent to the RAID 5 level.

Under the “Size” section, specify the maximum size as needed.

Click the Create storage space button.