What happens with Windows 8 Storage Spaces if I reinstall Windows?

I'm considering using Windows 8 Storage Spaces to combine disks. What will happen if, for some reason, my OS disk is no longer available. How will a fresh installation of Windows 8 react to an existing storage space? Will it automatically recognise the storage space or does the storage space configuration rely on state stored on the OS disk?

Bonus points if you can tell me what will happen to my storage space when I upgrade to Windows 8 retail.

Solution 1:

From the FAQ on the blog post:

Can I move a storage pool from one PC to another, once created? For example, if I have a cage with 6 removable drives?

Yes. Just connect the physical disks comprising the pool to the new PC.

Say I have 3 external enclosures and I remove them one at a time. I then plug them into another Windows 8 PC in reverse order. Will the new PC think I have a broken pool or will it eventually catch up? What if I never plug in one of the enclosures?

You can plug enclosures back in in any order. When Storage Spaces detects a sufficient number of disks for quorum, it activates the pool and contained spaces. You can plug in more enclosures later. If the data on any disks becomes out of sync, Storage Spaces will automatically sync them. Even if you never plug in some enclosures, as long as Storage Spaces detects the minimum number of disks needed, you can continue working with your data. Both via PowerShell and via Control Panel, Storage Spaces informs you that a few physical disks are missing, thereby encouraging you to plug them back in.

The above suggests that the storage pool stores state information on the disks themselves given you can move them the pool to another PC.