Windows 10 2004 bugs: Here's Microsoft's workaround for Storage Spaces file corruption
Microsoft has finally offered an official workaround for Windows 10 version 2004 users who find that the Storage Spaces disk-failure protection feature is broken after the update and corrupting some files.
As ZDNet reported in mid-June, some users have reported seeing corrupted partitions and damaged files in the Storage Spaces 'parity spaces' feature for storage-efficient archiving.
Windows 10
According to Microsoft, parity spacesare "designed for storage efficiency and protect your files from drive failure by keeping multiple copies". It's optimal for archival data and streaming media, like music and videos.
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One user detailed potentially expensive problems caused by the Windows 10 2004 update and bugs in Storage Spaces.
"My 20TB parity storage space shows up now as RAW, no accessible files. Storage Spaces tool and PowerShell show it as healthy, containing data. Looks like the ReFS partition has been corrupted, and I may have to fork out cash on recovery software and some external drives to copy files to so I can rebuild," one user wrote.
"I started noticing corrupt photos I keep on my parity storage space in the last week. No errors in chkdsk though."
Microsoft has released a 'hardware and devices troubleshooter' and a 'storage-space troubleshooter', but it warns there is no full mitigation for all scenarios of this issue.
The hardware and devices troubleshoot "will prevent issues with the data on your Storage Spaces. After the troubleshooter has run, you will not be able to write to your Storage Spaces". It automatically changes system settings to mitigate the issue.
The storage-space troubleshooter mitigates the issue for some users and restores read and write access to Parity Storage Spaces. It's for the scenario where data corruption has been detected on a parity storage space.
"This troubleshooter takes actions to prevent further corruption. It also restores write access if the space was previously marked read-only," says Microsoft.
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The troubleshooters have only been released to some machines with Windows 10 version 2004. For IT pros, Microsoft has also provided instructions for manually implementing a workaround equal to the hardware and devices troubleshooter using Windows PowerShell. It doesn't have a manual method for the Storage Spaces troubleshooter.
Microsoft has also provided instructions for using WinFR to recover files.
Separately, Microsoft has released a troubleshooter for an issue affecting OneDrive after installing Windows 10 version 2004.
"Some older devices or devices with certain older apps installed that use legacy file system filter drivers might be unable to connect to OneDrive via the OneDrive app," Microsoft explains.
"Affected devices might not be able to download new Files On-Demand or open previously synced/downloaded files."