Replacing a Faulty Drive

Replacing a Faulty Drive

To avoid the loss of critical data, it is important that you replace and rebuild a defunct (DDD) drive promptly.

The results of hard disk drive failures depend on the configuration of the disk arrays and the number of drives that fail. Before you remove or replace a DDD drive, review the following examples.

Example 1. One hard disk drive becomes defunct, but a hot-spare (HSP) drive of the same size exists.
- If the failing drive is part of a redundant (RAID level 1 or RAID level 5) logical drive, the hot-spare drive takes over immediately.
- RAID level 1 and RAID level 5 logical drives within the array change to the critical (CRT) state and remain in the CRT state until the rebuild process completes.
- The RAID level 0 logical drives within the array change to the offline (OFL) state.
- All data in the RAID level 0 logical drives within the array is lost.
Example 2. One hard disk drive becomes defunct, and an appropriate hot-spare (HSP) drive is not available.
- The RAID level 1 and RAID level 5 logical drives change to the CRT state and remain in the CRT state until the rebuild process completes. Data is not lost from logical drives in the CRT state, but you must replace the DDD hard disk drive promptly to avoid the loss of data. (If two drives within the same array become DDD, all data within the array is lost.)
- The RAID level 0 logical drives change to the OFL state.
- All data in the RAID level 0 logical drives within the array is lost.
Example 3. Multiple drives within an array become defunct.
- All logical drives in the array change to the offline (OFL) state.
- All data from the array is lost, regardless of the RAID levels assigned to the logical drives.

To replace a faulty drive:

Before you remove or replace a drive that you suspect to be defective, verify that the drive is defective. To do this:
1. Check the drive for damage.
2. Verify that the drive is positioned correctly. If the drive is not installed correctly, reposition the drive.
3. Check the lights on the drive tray. (See the following information for a description of the lights.) Verify that you can remove the drive safely.
  The lights on the hot-swap drive tray provide drive status information, as follows:
  - Hard Disk Activity Light: When this green light is flashing, it indicates that the server is accessing the drive.
  - Hard Disk Status Light: When this amber light is lit continuously, it indicates that the drive has failed. When the light flashes slowly (one flash per second), it indicates that the hard disk drive is part of a disk array and is being rebuilt. When the light flashes rapidly (three flashes per second), it indicates that the controller is identifying the drive. The drive should not be replaced if this light is blinking, the drive has just been replaced and the disk array is being rebuilt.
Physically replace the defective drive or use an existing RDY drive that has a capacity equal to or greater than the drive that you are replacing as a hot-spare replacement drive.
Removing the wrong hard disk drive might cause loss of all data in the array.
1. To physically replace the defective hard disk drive, follow the instructions in 'Internal Drive Installation' and 'Installing a Drive in a Hot-Swap Bay', then, follow the instructions in 'Understanding the Drive Rebuild Process'.
2. To rebuild the defunct drive to an existing RDY drive, follow the instructions in 'Understanding the Drive Rebuild Process'.

Note: You can use the Administration and Monitoring utility program to identify a defunct drive and designate a replacement drive without restarting the server. Review the information in 'Understanding the Drive Rebuild Process', then, see 'Using the Administration and Monitoring Utility Program' for more information.

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