HP SB40c-Storage-Blade - Manual (Page 24)

Troubleshooting 24
• Do not remove a second drive from an array until the first failed or missing drive has been replaced
and the rebuild process is complete. (The rebuild is complete when the online LED on the front of the
drive stops blinking.)
These cases are the exceptions:
o In RAID 6 configurations, any two drives in the array can be replaced simultaneously.
o In RAID 1+0 configurations, any drives that are not mirrored to other removed or failed drives
can be simultaneously replaced offline without data loss.
Automatic data recovery (rebuild)
When you replace a hard drive in an array, the controller uses the fault-tolerance information on the
remaining drives in the array to reconstruct the missing data (the data that was originally on the replaced
drive) and write it to the replacement drive. This process is called automatic data recovery, or rebuild. If
fault tolerance is compromised, this data cannot be reconstructed and is likely to be lost permanently.
If another drive in the array fails while fault tolerance is unavailable during rebuild, a fatal system error
may occur, and all data on the array is then lost. In exceptional cases, however, failure of another drive
need not lead to a fatal system error. These exceptions include:
• Failure after activation of a spare drive
• Failure of a drive that is not mirrored to any other failed drives (in a RAID 1+0 configuration)
• Failure of a second drive in a RAID 6 configuration
Time required for a rebuild
The time required for a rebuild varies considerably, depending on several factors:
• The priority that the rebuild is given over normal I/O operations (you can change the priority setting
by using ACU)
• The amount of I/O activity during the rebuild operation
• The rotational speed of the hard drives
• The availability of drive cache
• The brand, model, and age of the drives
• The amount of unused capacity on the drives
• The number of drives in the array (for RAID 5 and RAID 6)
Allow approximately 15 minutes per gigabyte for the rebuild process to be completed. This period is a
conservative estimate, and newer drive models usually require less time to rebuild.
System performance is affected during the rebuild, and the system is unprotected against further drive
failure until the rebuild has finished. Therefore, replace drives during periods of low activity when
possible.
CAUTION: If the Online LED of the replacement drive stops blinking and the amber Fault LED glows,
or if other drive LEDs in the array go out, the replacement drive has failed and is producing
unrecoverable disk errors. Remove and replace the failed replacement drive.
When automatic data recovery has finished, the online LED of the replacement drive stops flashing and
illuminates steadily.