I have got several emails warning that I have hard drive failures. First, it was drive 2 and now drive 1 & 2. When I log into the web page for the server the health says all is good. Any ideas?
Here are a few suggestions on how to handle those hard drive failure warnings:
- The warnings could be false positives. Sometimes monitoring software can incorrectly report failures when the drives are actually still functioning. Logging into the server and checking the health status is good to verify.
- If the health status does show the drives as OK, I would run some disk diagnostics tests on the drives reported as failing just to double check. Tools like chkdsk, smartctl, or the server vendor’s disk utilities can give more insight.
- Check the RAID status and configuration. If the drives are in a fault-tolerant RAID configuration like RAID-1, 5, 6, 10 etc., one or more drives could be failing but the array is still operational. The failed drives would need replaced soon though.
- Review the physical server and make sure the drives and connections are OK. Listen for unusual sounds from a failing drive. Look at the LED status lights on the caddies. Reseat connections.
- Monitor the SMART status and logs for the drives to see if reallocated or pending sectors are increasing over time. This could confirm a true failure.
- If a failure is confirmed, replace the failed drive(s) as soon as possible to avoid data loss or array degradation. Have spare drives ready.
- Consider migrating to redundant servers or a fault tolerant external storage array if drive failures are common.
Let me know if the condition persists after checking the above suggestions. Proactively monitoring and testing drives is key to avoiding disruption from actual failed drives!
