Degraging Array

I am getting an Degraging Array message on my eSata enclosure.

HDD1 is blinking Red.

Should I assume it needs to be replaced or is there someting I can do to salvage ?

If it needs to be replaced:

1-Can I continue accessing the disk until new drive comes in?

2-I might consider upgrading to higher capacity disks. In this event, how should I proceed to recover the healthy data disk to the new higher capacity and build RAID 1 ?

Disks:

2 X Western Digital WD2002FAEX Caviar Black Hard Drive - 2TB, 3.5", SATA 6Gbps, 7200RPM, 64MB

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/catalog/

Enclosure:

SansDigital TowerSTOR TS2CT

http://store.sansdigital-shop.com/tots2baysato1.html

Welcome to the Community.

Both questions depend on how the enclosure is handling the RAID type/level as some external enclosures will allow for disk access outside of the RAID controller and/or migration, and some others won’t. I would recommend confirming the documentation provided by the enclosure manufacturer for additional information since the hard drives themselves will operate as configured by the enclosure and will not bypass settings.

Trancer, thank-you for responding. 

Are you confirming faulty disk needs to be replaced or isn’t there something that needs to be done before confirming?

In the event that I do purchase 2 new WD disks with higher capacity, what would be the process to recover the data ?

In normal cicumstances can the disk still be used even though there is a degraded array? 

Thanks

  1. Yes, the faulty disk should be replaced to prevent further volume degradation.

  2. This is up to the RAID array/level. Some arrays like RAID 0 do not allow for data recovery by just swapping the faulty disk. The entire volume is gone. RAID 1 on the other hand should automatically sync the data from the healthy drive into the new drive.

  3. “Normal” circumstances are not always standard when talking about a RAID configuration. The controller (Enclosure) and RAID level all affect disk access. For a RAID configuration using a WD external drive like the My Book Duo for example the data can be accessed when the array is set as JBOD or RAID 1, but other external enclosures allow no access/disk use at all until the RAID level is rebuilt.

Sorry I forgot to mention that RAID Level is 1 (Mirror).

In the event that I do purchase 2 new WD disks with higher capacity, what would be the process to recover the data ?

Can it be something like this :

1-Remove old-disk1 (faulty disk)

2-Switch healthy disk (old-disk2) to non-RAID - not sure how to do this

3-Install new higher capacity disk (new-disk1)

4-Copy old-disk2 to new-disk1

5-Replace old-disk2 with new higher capacity disk (new-disk2)

6-Build RAID1 from new-disk1

Makes sense ?

Anyone ?

Is that the way to proceed?

Thks.