If you have multiple hard drives packed with data then you know that managing them can be a hassle. But that's all about to change with a new Windows 8 feature, Storage Spaces. The idea is that you can take all your hard drives, whether connected via USB, SATA or SAS, and add them to a storage pool. You can then create one or more spaces within this pool, formatting and accessing them as a single drive, so you only have one drive letter to worry about.
What's more, the technology can also maximize your performance by spreading files across multiple drives (the system can then access each chunk simultaneously). There's an option to mirror your files, too, so even if one disk fails your data remains safe. And if your Storage Space begins to fill up then just plug in another drive, add it to the pool and you can carry on as before.
You can create and manage your drive pool from the new Control Panel\System and Security 'Storage Spaces' applet.
