I noticed last night that one of my drives has gone offline due to "Reallocated sector count" prefail so currently the array is running unprotected. I can't replace the drive until later in the week so am currently running at risk.

 

I think I know the answer but want to check. I have enough space on the array to remove the disk and have parity protection again, but is it possible to remove a failed drive without losing all the data on it? Or is there a way to bring the failed drive back online long enough to move the data off of it and then remove it from the array?

Edited April 20, 20251 yr by BurningSky

Parity is not a backup solution.  You should always have the data you cannot afford to lose on a separate media, which can be restored/accessed in the case of system/disk failure.

 

The first thing NOT to do is remove the failed disk or change your array configuration before you are ready to reconstruct the failed disk.  (Assuming it has actually failed - I recommend attaching you diagnostics to your next post).  Removing the disk will most likely complicate rebuilding the replacement drive.

 

Currently it sound as your array is emulating the missing disk.  This is using the info from your parity disk and the other disks on the array.  Moving/copying data just puts more strain on your array disks, making it more likely you possibly have another issue/failure.  If there is data that you can not afford to lose on the drive, and you don't have it backed up, you can add a disk via Unassigned Devices to copy the files you are concerned about.

Assuming you mean the drive is disabled (marked with a red ‘x’) then the system should be emulating the disabled drives (and thus acting as if the drive was not failed) so you can see its contents.

 

You are likely to get better informed feedback if you attach your system’s diagnostics (with everything in the one zip file) to your next post in this thread. It is always a good idea when asking questions to supply your diagnostics so we can see details of your system, how you have things configured, and the current syslog.

Thanks both. All my important data is backed up, in 2 locations, so I definitely don't rely on the partiy as protection. I just meant the array itself is unprotected as per the array operation status, but I should have been clearer.

 

The disk is being emulated by the parity drive at the moment, but I won't be able to do anything physically with the server until Thursday. I've attached the diagnostics, but I think you've both confirmed what I thought, I can't do anything until I replace the drive, unless something in the logs suggest otherwise.

ragon-diagnostics-20250420-0908.zip

Removing the drive won't change anything, since it is disabled/emulated it isn't being used at all currently. Where removing it could cause problems, including when you do finally replace it, is if you disturb any other connections.

 

Unrelated, you have a lot of .cfg files in config/shares on your flash drive for shares that don't exist. These are the settings for user shares you no longer have. Possibly you accidentally created a lot of shares by writing to the top level of disks or pools. Now these shares don't exist because there are no top level folders with those names. You can clean those up (and clean up your diagnostics) by clicking the CLEAN UP button on the User Shares page.

Thanks, I will wait for the replacement drive before doing anything in that case and hope none of the others decide to follow suit! Ah, I never knew about that, I've cleaned that up now, it said it has removed 20 config files, thanks!