Shadow Copy With Storage Spaces?

Solution 1:

1 Create shadow storage

1.1 The System protection tab in System Properties

• this GUI only lists NTFS volumes, so you can't create shadow storage for ReFS volume there
• instead try one of:
  • vssadmin add shadowstorage /for=D: /on=D: /maxsize=100GB (Windows Server only)
    • alternatively for non-server Windows editions try vssadmin resize shadowstorage /for=D: /on=D: /maxsize=10% that will add shadow storage if it does not exist and thus is comparable to vssadmin add
  • wmic shadowstorage call create Volume=D:\ DiffVolume=D:\ MaxSpace=20
    • if this command returns ReturnValue = 10 (which is Unknown error) workaround follows
  • wmic shadowcopy call create Volume=D:\
    • creating shadow copy on disk without shadow storage will create one automatically
    • you can resize the shadow storage with vssadmin resize shadowstorage /for=D: /on=D: /maxsize=10%

1.2 List shadow storages

• make sure the shadow storage is there and configured using one of:
  • vssadmin list shadowstorage
  • wmic shadowstorage list

2 Create shadow copy

2.1 Create shadow copy

• you want to use scheduled system protection feature, but for now just take a snapshot manually:
  • wmic shadowcopy call create Volume=D:\

2.2 List shadow copies

• verify the snapshot was created:
  • vssadmin list shadows /for=D:

3 Mount shadow copy

• since you are using Storage Spaces, you won't see snapshots in Previous versions tab in disk/file properties
• but the snapshots exists and can be mounted as a folder
• this shortage apply for both NTFS and ReFS Storage Spaces
• to mount a snapshot you will need shadow ID, shadow path and temporary folder

3.1 Get shadow copy ID

• vssadmin list shadows /for=D:
  • look for something like this Shadow Copy ID: {5cc29315-0379-415e-8496-69923618e3de}

3.2 Get shadow copy path

• wmic shadowcopy where "ID='{5cc29315-0379-415e-8496-69923618e3de}'" get DeviceObject
• or vssadmin list shadows /for=D:
  • look for Shadow Copy Volume: \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy624

3.3 Mount shadow copy as folder

• mklink /j %tmp%\shadow \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy624\
  • note the extra \ at the end
  • the shadow copy is now available in %tmp%\shadow