Can't Create New Storage Space in Windows 10

[MissFangs]

Hi all!

I recently purchased this docking station and two 4TB hard drives for my PC. I want to put these drives into RAID 1 so I can create an additional back up for my editing footage (and have some redundancy, along with performance increase). I've set up a storage space in Windows 10 before but when I go to set up a new pool with these two drives, I get the error "can't prepare drives close all applications that are accessing the drive, and then try again" (0x00000057). I quick-formatted these drives in NTFS and they both show up on my PC (so I assume they're functioning fine).

NOTE: I mention the docking station because I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the error. In addition, the docking station is connected to a USB 3.0 extender, rather than directly into my computer. However, my other storage space is comprised of 4 SSDs, two of which are connected via USB 3.0 so I'm not sure if the way the drives are connected is the problem.

Here are the steps I've taken to troubleshoot this issue...
1. Restart my computer and try to set up a pool immediately.
2. Reseat the drives on the docking station, move them to different ports, and try again.
3. Disable and re-enable the drives in Device Manager, restarting in-between.
4. Tried using Windows Powershell to set up RAID according to these instructions but every time I pressed enter, the command would go in but return nothing (ie. it just goes onto the next line and shows no results). Example Screenshot

I'm at a loss here. I suppose I can technically backup my data to both of these drives individually but I lose the benefit of increased performance and it's also such a bother. I've thought about setting up RAID in MSI bios but I A) don't know if they will show up because they're connected via USB 3.0 and B) I'm scared it will screw up the storage space I have already.

Please let me know if you have any ideas. Thank you in advance for your help!

Best Regards,
Erin Joan

[MissFangs]

11 minutes ago, BlueScope819 said:

So to clarify you are trying to set up a software RAID array over a dock? The dock is probably the problem here. Doing RAID over a USB dock isn't going to be a good time.

I figured but what's strange to me is that I've already set up a software RAID with my SSDs connected via USB 3.0. Shouldn't the same apply to a docking station?

[Korben]

@BlueScope819  Edit: sorry, wrong tag

@MissFangs btw: your link to your dockingstation is weird. Can't open it...

[Korben]

@BlueScope819 yeah sorry. edited it, but you're to quick

[MissFangs]

50 minutes ago, Korben said:

@BlueScope819  Edit: sorry, wrong tag

@MissFangs btw: your link to your dockingstation is weird. Can't open it...

Does this link work?: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07H11KXCL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Korben]

3 minutes ago, MissFangs said:

Does this link work?: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07H11KXCL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Yes, it does. Interesting, never seen this kind of dock.

Do the drives appear normal in the Windows Drive Management console? Can you format, change partitions etc there? Maybe first delete everything, take them offline and online again and then try to create a new soft-raid.

The powershell command Get-PhysicalDisk with the parameter -CanPool shows you only disk that are available for pooling. If you use the command without the parameter, do the drives get listed?

[MissFangs]

11 minutes ago, Korben said:

Yes, it does. Interesting, never seen this kind of dock.

Do the drives appear normal in the Windows Drive Management console? Can you format, change partitions etc there? Maybe first delete everything, take them offline and online again and then try to create a new soft-raid.

The powershell command Get-PhysicalDisk with the parameter -CanPool shows you only disk that are available for pooling. If you use the command without the parameter, do the drives get listed?

 

 

It does show up normally in Drive Management, I can format and change partitions, and I have tried taking them offline and online again. I also used $Get-Physical Disk by itself and it doesn't come up with anything (which is strange because it should list my drives, even if those ones weren't on the list). I also attached a picture.

[MissFangs]

4 minutes ago, MissFangs said:

It does show up normally in Drive Management, I can format and change partitions, and I have tried taking them offline and online again. I also used $Get-Physical Disk by itself and it doesn't come up with anything (which is strange because it should list my drives, even if those ones weren't on the list). I also attached a picture.

Update: I was using the wrong phrase. "Get-PhysicalDisk" does pull up my drives. All of them are listed as "CanPool False." I attached another picture. Also, the drives in question are 11 and 12.

[Korben]

Ah ok. Hmm. it might be that you can't use the drives in this dock as poolable devices (and therefore not for use in a Windows RAID). I'm not 100% sure about this, but maybe it's because they are still USB devices...

There are two other Sabrent disks (5 & 6), do you know what they are?

 

And I doubt you will be able to build the RAID via BIOS. They may appear as drives (like an USB stick), but not much more. (again, not 100% sure, you can try it though).

 

[MissFangs]

4 minutes ago, Korben said:

Ah ok. Hmm. it might be that you can't use the drives in this dock as poolable devices (and therefore not for use in a Windows RAID). I'm not 100% sure about this, but maybe it's because they are still USB devices...

There are two other Sabrent disks (5 & 6), do you know what they are?

 

And I doubt you will be able to build the RAID via BIOS. They may appear as drives (like an USB stick), but not much more. (again, not 100% sure, you can try it though).

 

I think 5 & 6 are related to the Portable Backup Drives I have installed because when I turn off my docking station, they still appear in Device Manager. Would it make any difference if I had a hardware RAID controller or do you think it's a lost cause? To be honest, it still doesn't make sense to me that they wouldn't be able to create a storage space when I've already made a storage space with USB connected drives. I suppose the only way to find out would be to install them internally and see if that makes a difference...

[Korben]

1 minute ago, MissFangs said:

I think 5 & 6 are related to the Portable Backup Drives I have installed because when I turn off my docking station, they still appear in Device Manager. Would it make any difference if I had a hardware RAID controller or do you think it's a lost cause? To be honest, it still doesn't make sense to me that they wouldn't be able to create a storage space when I've already made a storage space with USB connected drives. I suppose the only way to find out would be to install them internally and see if that makes a difference...

With a raid controller you would have to connect the drives to the controller, which would make the dock obsolete.

 

The other SSD you mentioned are not listed there, are they? I see only 3 SSDs. Are they in the same model of dock? Maybe the SSD dock has some more functionality than the HDD one? It's all just guessing, I'm sorry.

[MissFangs]

12 minutes ago, Korben said:

With a raid controller you would have to connect the drives to the controller, which would make the dock obsolete.

 

The other SSD you mentioned are not listed there, are they? I see only 3 SSDs. Are they in the same model of dock? Maybe the SSD dock has some more functionality than the HDD one? It's all just guessing, I'm sorry.

I have an important update: I just connected the Docking Station to another PC and tried to create a storage space and it worked just fine. So, on the bright side, it isn't the docking station. I connected it to the USB 3.0 port on the top of the PC, rather than the back - is it possible that the back port is different in some way? Also, if I disconnect two of the SSDs in my system (while my PC is shut down) and re-connect them through another port, will it disturb my existing storage space? 

[Korben]

Good news   Maybe it's the "extender"? (don't what this actually is...an extension cable?A USB hub?)

It also could just be the fact that you physically disconnected the drives (for more than a few seconds). I read some google entries where people reported that this fixed their problems with accessing the devices. Maybe try it again on the back, just to be sure...

 

[MissFangs]

1 hour ago, Korben said:

Good news   Maybe it's the "extender"? (don't what this actually is...an extension cable?A USB hub?)

It also could just be the fact that you physically disconnected the drives (for more than a few seconds). I read some google entries where people reported that this fixed their problems with accessing the devices. Maybe try it again on the back, just to be sure...

 

 

1 hour ago, Korben said:

Good news   Maybe it's the "extender"? (don't what this actually is...an extension cable?A USB hub?)

It also could just be the fact that you physically disconnected the drives (for more than a few seconds). I read some google entries where people reported that this fixed their problems with accessing the devices. Maybe try it again on the back, just to be sure...

 

SO, I fixed it.

Evidently, there must be something running in the background on my computer that prevents the storage space from being created - I have absolutely no idea what it could be. However, I can create a storage space on another computer and when I reconnect it to mine, it retains the storage space (ie. it shows up in my storage spaces and can be used). Hopefully this helps someone who has the same problem.

Thanks again for your help Korben - I really appreciate your time!