RAID disk drive failure

[SteveB_NI]

I've encountered my first HDD failure on our 4 disk RAID 1 set up System in 5 years (thankfully!)

 

The drives appear to be hot swappable - and I've removed the faulty one - it's a Dell Enterprise Capacity 3.5HDD v5 1TB - part: ST1000NM0045

 

Am I right in thinking any 1TB HDD would be ok for this, or does it need to be the exact same type? I know I can't put in less capacity, but what if I put in say a 2TB Seagate instead?

 

Sorry for the silly question just want to make sure I order something which won't mess things up further!

 

Thanks

[3s-gtech]

Best to stick to an Enterprise class drive - don't stick a desktop HDD in there. It'll work, but sometimes they don't last as long, and if you happen to buy an SMR drive it'll be slow and won't last as long!

 

The price difference is usually not enough to matter. You can put in a 2TB instead of course - but if you buy a 1TB and it's actually 1MB smaller than the others, it probably won't build!

[Norphy]

I agree - Enterprise drives are mechanically similar or sometimes even almost identical, but they are generally rated for higher uptimes and life cycles, and will come with a longer warranty.

 

Enterprise drives may also be more suitable for RAID arrays as large arrays of disks are subject to different stresses than desktop drives, more vibrations and suchlike, so that’s something to take into account as well

[chazzy2501]

also enterprise drives use 10bits per byte (for extra error checking).

[Jaan]

The raid controller might even reject a non enterprise drive. I've had that with a NAS server

[SteveB_NI]

I'm using Dell PERC RAID set up. I have found a 1TB Enterprise drive & replaced but how do I know it's built / working ok? From what I read PERC is only accessed from the options when booting the Server? As it's a Hyper V host server I can't easily do that without disruption. Can anyone advise how I can check the disk status rather than a reboot?

 

Thanks!

[Davit2005]

I'm using Dell PERC RAID set up. I have found a 1TB Enterprise drive & replaced but how do I know it's built / working ok? From what I read PERC is only accessed from the options when booting the Server? As it's a Hyper V host server I can't easily do that without disruption. Can anyone advise how I can check the disk status rather than a reboot?

 

Thanks!

 

Status lights on the front of the drives, any info in iDRAC??

[SteveB_NI]

Status light for power is on, but activity light isn't illuminated at all, with no flashes etc. I'm assuming needs checked on PERC but reluctant to reboot at present unless absolutely necessary

[Jaan]

You can use Dell open manager server admin to configure raid etc

 

I've used it on our r710s

 

EDIT: You'll need to install this. Dells website and the service tag will be needed

 

Edited March 29, 2023 by Jaan

[Koldov]

As above, iDRAC if you've configured it for remote access, or OPENMANGE SERVER ADMINISTRATOR.

 

EDIT: Just to add, I wonder if you'd be able to easily find anything other than enterprise/server class SAS drives doing 6Gbps, 15K, 10bits (not the specs for your drives I know)...?

 

Also, can I ask the OP why a 4 disk RAID 1 array, that doesn't make sense does it?

Edited March 29, 2023 by Koldov