My server has been working flawlessly for years, and about 2 months ago the motherboard in the computer failed and I had to replace it and the CPU. Since then, all has been well and my 8 x 1.5TB drive array has been going strong.
Until about a day ago. It first showed signs that SMB shares were no longer active. I was able, however, to get to the web interface and found that it was sitting on 'Parity Check' and acting really slow. The hard drive lights were flashing, so I know something was happening. Eventually (after about 20 hours) it managed to move to about 47% complete, and I thought I'd just let it finish and it will be fine.
Nope, that didn't happen. Now its non-responsive to SMB access and HTTP for control. However I can NMAP the server and I see the open service ports, and I can ping the box just fine. The hard drive appears to be going as the light is flashing, but its been about 48 hours now and I think I have a hard drive issue.
What's the best way to diagnose this? Last time I force rebooted it, it came back up and the web interface didn't show any obvious issues, however one drive seemed to take a very long time to mount. Is it likely that this is the problem drive? And since it doesn't seem to be able to complete the Parity Check, does that mean I'm stranded if that drive is dead and I need to replace it with another?
All advice greatly appreciated.
Myles