Re: [PLUG] RAID1 impending failure questions

["Rev. LeRoy Cressy via plug" <plug@lists.phillylinux.org>]

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On Fri, 2022-10-28 at 08:45 -0400, Walt Mankowski via plug wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> I woke up this morning to an alert that one of the drives in a RAID
> array is likely to fail soon. I set this array up nearly 6 years ago
> so it seems about the time that things might start failing. This is my
> first RAID array so I've got a few questions I hope someone can help
> me with.
>
> First of all, it's a RAID1 array with two 4 TB drives. It's just used
> for data, and isn't the boot drive. It's still working, but who knows
> for how long. I'll stop by Micro Center this weekend and pick up 2 new
> 4 TB drives, on the assumption that the other drive might be ready to
> fail soon too.
>
> First question -- The two devices in the array are /dev/sdc1 and
> /dev/sdd1. The alert says the questionable drive is sdc1. When I open
> things up, is there any easy way to tell which drive is which? Will
> the serial number be printed on the drive?

First of all was how was the RAID built?
Was it built with the Motherboard raid?
was it built with mdadm?
was it built with BTRFS

The Serial number is not always printed on the Drive.  In the old days when
first started using Linux Each drive we bought had the Serial number and the
CHS info on the drive.  Now we buy drives that contain 4 to > 16 terabytes in
size.  Western Digital does not have the information printed on the drive.

The SATA connections on your motherboard are labeled 0 - ?  The drive connected
to SATA 0 should show up as /dev/sda

Thus replacing the failing drive to the same connection should cause it to be
the same device.  The word 'should' indicates that the this is what is supposed
to happen, but not necessarily what will happen.

>
> Second question -- Let's say I remove the old drive, install the new
> drive and it's sde1. Will the system think it's a RAID1 with one drive
> and just use that until I add sde1 to the array?

That will depend on the initial Raid configuration.
Also just plugging in a new drive will not necessarily mean that it is
formatted with either GPT or MBR.  With every new drive I run gparted or what
ever partitioning program is your favorite.  I have noted that most drives
still come with MBR partitioning installed on them by default.
>
> Third question -- As long as everything is working, and assuming I've
> got the slots, power, cables, etc, would it make sense to add the new
> drive as a third drive in the array, let it sync, then remove the old
> drive from the array?
>
That is a possibility

I hope that this helps :-)

> Anything else I should be aware of?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Walt
> ___________________________________________________________________________
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