Windows Storage Technologies: MBR, GPT, RAID, Filesystems, and Backup Methods

MBR (Master Boot Record)

Traditional partitioning scheme limiting disks to 2 TB with a max of 4 primary partitions

GPT (GUID Partition Table)

Modern partitioning standard (UEFI) supporting disks >2 TB and up to 128 primary partitions

UEFI System Partition

Partition created by Server 2022 installer, formatted as FAT32, used to store the boot loader

Journaling Filesystem

Filesystem type (like NTFS/ReFS) that logs changes to prevent corruption during power loss

ReFS (Resilient File System)

Filesystem optimized for Storage Spaces that edits metadata by creating a copy (increasing reliability)

Simple Volume

A filesystem stored on a single partition of a single storage device

RAID 0 (Striping)

Splits data into sections across multiple disks; offers speed but no fault tolerance

RAID 1 (Mirroring)

Writes the exact same data to multiple disks to provide fault tolerance

RAID 5 (Striping with Parity)

Intermixes data and parity info across 3+ disks; offers balance of speed and redundancy

Hardware RAID

Managed by a dedicated storage controller card; appears to the OS as a single device

Software RAID

Managed entirely by the Windows Server OS; consumes CPU resources

Storage Spaces Direct (S2D)

Uses Failover Clustering to combine local storage from up to 16 servers into a pool

Storage Tiering

Automatically moves frequently accessed files to SSDs and infrequently accessed files to HDDs

iSCSI Initiator

The software component on the server (client) that connects to a SAN device

IQN (iSCSI Qualified Name)

Unique identifier used by iSCSI targets to authenticate and identify initiators

Fibre Channel (FC)

SAN technology using Host Bus Adapters (HBA) and fiber-optic cables

Multipath I/O (MPIO)

Configuration allowing multiple physical connections to a SAN for redundancy and load balancing

Data Deduplication

Service that stores only one copy of duplicate data blocks and replaces others with references

Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS)

Allows backup tools to capture files that are currently open/in use by users

chkdsk /scan

Command to check a volume for errors while it remains online

chkdsk /spotfix

Command that quickly fixes errors previously identified by the Spot Verifier service

Incremental Backup

Backup option that only saves data that has changed since the last backup

Primordial Storage Pool

A placeholder listing available physical disks that have not yet been added to a specific storage pool.

Thin Provisioning

A method of creating virtual disks where space is allocated on-demand rather than all at once.

Dynamic Disk

A disk storage type used in Disk Management that allows for software RAID volumes (requires converting from Basic).

Basic Disk

The default disk type in Windows that supports simple partitions but not software RAID volumes.

RAID 3 (Striping with dedicated parity)

A RAID level that stripes data at the byte level and uses a dedicated drive for parity information.

Partition

A physical portion of a storage device (e.g., the raw space before it has a drive letter).

Volume

A logical drive that has a filesystem and a drive letter (e.g., C: or D:) associated with it.

iSCSI Target

The storage resource on the SAN device that the server (initiator) connects to.

Host Bus Adapter (HBA)

A dedicated hardware card installed in a server to connect to a Fibre Channel SAN.

Repair-Volume

A PowerShell cmdlet used to verify and fix errors on a volume (alternative to chkdsk).

Windows Server Backup

The built-in feature in Windows Server 2022 used to back up files, folders, and system state.

Normal Backup

The default backup performance setting that performs a full backup of all specified files every time.