How to pick which HDD to replace?


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So I have 12 bays and all full now, mixture of 4TBs and 12TB. I got another 12TB to replace a 4TB but not sure which one to replace. Just replace at random or is there a way to check which is oldest?

 

All the 4TB drives are WD Reds but think 1 is a WD Green so maybe take that out?

 

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Edited by bally12345
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Run SMART reports on all smaller drives.

Examine SMART results.

Replace the most questionable drive going off the reports.

Consolidate the content of the second most questionable drive going off the reports onto the new 12TB drive.

 

No sense in keeping more drives than needed to store your content.

Edited by BRiT
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7 minutes ago, BRiT said:

Consolidate the content of the second most questionable drive going off the reports onto the new 12TB drive.

 

@bally12345  The only reason I would consider doing this is to add a second parity drive.   You are actually at the point (number of data drives)  where you should consider this.  The primary reason for the second parity drive is not to wait until you have a second drive issue but so that you have a redundancy  in case you have a problem in rebuilding what you thought was a single drive failure. 

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2 hours ago, trurl said:

SMART report for each disk has that information.

 

Do any disks have SMART warnings on the Dashboard page?

 

Post diagnostics if you want us to take a look

 

I will run smart against all the disk and pop it into excel for future reference too. None of the drives have any warnings against them and all showing as healthy.

image.png.be08f69810bc56b1736556d3cca1fea5.png

 

2 hours ago, Frank1940 said:

@bally12345  The only reason I would consider doing this is to add a second parity drive.   You are actually at the point (number of data drives)  where you should consider this.  The primary reason for the second parity drive is not to wait until you have a second drive issue but so that you have a redundancy  in case you have a problem in rebuilding what you thought was a single drive failure. 

 

I think you are right, I didnt even consider a 2nd parity tbh. Either way will still need to pull a drive from the array.

server-diagnostics-20220704-1618.zip

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I looked at the SMART reports in your diagnostics file and did not see any problem with any of the disks.

 

Personally, if it were me, I would replace disk 1 which has 70,000 hours on it first.  If I made a decision to add the second parity drive, I would move the data off disk 3 (53,000+ hours) to free up a disk slot for the second parity drive. 

 

I would not discard either of these disks but keep them around as a 'cold spare' to resolve a problem with one of the other 4TB disks until I could get a new replacement drive.  With single parity, it is best to resolve any problem before a second problem arises that would present a major issue to resolve without data loss. 

 

(I have a new 'cold spare' for both for my servers.  I fully realize that the warranty will probably expire on these disks before either will be installed but that is a fact I can live with.  I have not had a true hard disk failure in many years now.  Just a couple of failure to write issues in which the drive was not the issue.) 

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18 hours ago, Frank1940 said:

I looked at the SMART reports in your diagnostics file and did not see any problem with any of the disks.

 

Personally, if it were me, I would replace disk 1 which has 70,000 hours on it first.  If I made a decision to add the second parity drive, I would move the data off disk 3 (53,000+ hours) to free up a disk slot for the second parity drive. 

 

I would not discard either of these disks but keep them around as a 'cold spare' to resolve a problem with one of the other 4TB disks until I could get a new replacement drive.  With single parity, it is best to resolve any problem before a second problem arises that would present a major issue to resolve without data loss. 

 

(I have a new 'cold spare' for both for my servers.  I fully realize that the warranty will probably expire on these disks before either will be installed but that is a fact I can live with.  I have not had a true hard disk failure in many years now.  Just a couple of failure to write issues in which the drive was not the issue.) 

 

By the sounds of things I would probably be better getting hold of another 12TB in that case and start planning on moving some data of the 4TBs.

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24 minutes ago, bally12345 said:

 

By the sounds of things I would probably be better getting hold of another 12TB in that case and start planning on moving some data of the 4TBs.

Look here:

https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-IronWolf-12TB-Internal-Drive/dp/B084ZTSMWF/ref=sr_1_3?crid=18507JHD1A1DK&keywords=12%2Btb%2Binternal%2Bhardrive&qid=1657030503&sprefix=12%2Btb%2B%2Caps%2C104&sr=8-3&th=1

IT sounds like Amazon was thinking of you!   🙄

Edited by Frank1940
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I think I have come up with plan to start moving some data and freeing up a disk slot. For now I am moving stuff away from a 4TB to add the 12TB I have. Will then move all data from disk1 which has been running for about 7-8 years without issue to the new 12TB. 


Then order a another 12TB to replace disk1 and then assign that as parity2!


After all that is all done I still need to decide if I should move away from the dual X5690 setup or Ryzen?

 

Edited by bally12345
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