For drives associated with a pool, unallocated capacity is comprised of a pool’s preservation capacity, the free capacity (capacity not used by volumes), and a portion of the usable capacity set aside as additional optimization capacity. The additional optimization capacity ensures a minimum level of optimization capacity by reducing the usable capacity, and as such, is not available for volume creation.

When a pool is created, a recommended optimization capacity is generated that provides a balance of performance, drive wear life, and available capacity. The Additional Optimization Capacity slider located in the Pool Settings dialog allows adjustments to the pool’s optimization capacity. Adjusting the slider provides for better performance and drive wear life at the expense of available capacity, or additional available capacity at the expense of performance and drive wear life.