Impending drive failure – waiting for hot spare drive

A drive is reporting internal errors that could cause the drive to fail. The storage array has attempted to automatically copy the drive's contents as a safety precaution, but was unable to as there are currently no eligible standby hot spare drives to spare for the affected drive.

Important:
  • Because the drive has not failed, its fault indicator light will not be turned on.

  • Make sure the replacement drive has a capacity equal to or greater than the drive you will remove.

  • You can replace the drive while the storage array is receiving I/O.

  • It is recommended to copy the drive's contents to a hot spare drive before failing the drive, as it greatly reduces the possibility of data loss, and removes the need to reconstruct the drives contents.

CAUTION:
Electrostatic discharge can damage sensitive components

Always use proper antistatic protection when handling components. Touching components without using a proper ground may damage the equipment.

Recovery Steps

  1. Are any drive failures being reported in the Problems area?

    • If yes, replace the failed drives using the recovery steps in the Drive Failed procedure listed in the Problems area, and then go to step 2.

    • If no, go to step 2.

  2. Do you want to replace the affected drive before it fails?

    • If yes, go to step 3.

    • If no, wait for the drive to fail and then replace the failed drive using the recovery steps in the Drive Failed procedure listed in the Problems area.

  3. This problem can be resolved by assigning a hot spare for the storage array to copy the drive's contents to or by physically replacing the drive and reconstructing the drive's contents.

    • If you want to assign a hot spare for the storage array to copy the drive's contents to, go to step 4.

    • If you want to physically replace the drive and reconstruct the drive's contents, go to step 6.

  4. Assign a hot spare for the storage array to copy the drive's contents.

    1. Go to Hardware.

    2. Highlight a drive that is similar in media and interface type, and that has a capacity equal or larger than the drive shown in the Details area.

    3. Select Assign hot spare.

      After the hot spare is assigned, a drive copy operation should begin automatically. If the operation does not begin automatically, check that all of the volumes associated with the affected drive's volume group are Optimal and are currently not involved in any operation.

  5. Wait until the drive copy operation has completed, and finish replacing the drive using the recovery steps in the Volume - Hot Spare in Use procedure listed in the Problems area.

  6. Physically replace the affected drive.

    1. Go to Hardware.

    2. Highlight the drive listed in the Details area.

    3. Select Fail to fail the drive, making sure to uncheck the Fail checkbox.

    4. Remove the failed drive (its fault indicator light should be on).

    5. Wait 30 seconds.

    6. Insert the new drive. Its fault indicator light may be lit for a short time (one minute or less).

  7. Select Recheck to ensure the problem has been resolved.