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I have an 11-disk (D0 - D10) RAID6 array with a hotspare (D11) - a 12 disk array total.

Disk D3 failed earlier today and the hotspare is now being rebuilt (presumably, turning itself into a datacopy of D3). I want to replace the dead D3 with a working disk. The controller is running LSI MegaRAID Storage Manager (v13.04.03.01).

1) Should I wait for the rebuild to complete before replacing D3? I don't want to confuse things and it appears to be rebuilding fine

2) Right now, D11 is still designated as the 'hot spare' when I check the physical drive's info page on the MegaRAID GUI. When I replace D3, should it become the new hotspare and D11 become part of the main array (this would seem most sensible) OR, once D3 is replaced will the [rebuilt] info from D11 be moved BACK onto D3 and then D11 be wiped and retain its role as the hot spare?

I realize question 2 is probably entirely dependent on how the manager decided to do things, but I just don't know if this will be automatic or if I need to actively tell it what to do. As far as I can see there's no option to designate a disk as the hot spare.

Any thoughts or advice regarding greatly appreciated.

Alex
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1 Answers1

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I strongly suggest to first let the controller rebuild the array, then remove the broken disk. After that, when replacing D3 with a working disk, the array should reconstruct D3, restoring D11 to its original hotspare role.

Anyway, please consult your controller manual to be sure what to expect.

shodanshok
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  • What must the D11 disk be hot spare for? If autorebuild is enabled D11 disk will join to the array after D3 disk will be extracted and D11 will be rebuilt. – Mikhail Khirgiy Sep 11 '16 at 15:24
  • To follow up - the hot spare was used and rebuilt on overnight, bringing the array back to 'optimal' conditions. The next morning, once the array had rebuilt I replaced D3 with a new disk. The array then re-rebuilt itself and D11 is now the hot spare and everything is happy and dandy. – Alex Sep 12 '16 at 15:59