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I know they say when the third light is blinking blue, sometimes that means that the server is running chkdsk or something and I should leave it.
I have left it for about 48 hours now and still nothing.
I had been getting some messages about a possible disk error - on one of the disks.
If I just remove one, once powered down, and then turn back on the server will I lose files ?
I am thinking of pulling the drive that I suspect has issues - running SpinRite on it and then putting it back in before starting up, or am I being too paranoid and the server should work with the other 3 drives.
I had about 1.1TB free, and the drive I am pulling is 1TB. So I am cutting it close.
Thoughts ?
marcamillion
Posted 2011-04-08T02:42:50.160
Reputation: 795
Don't run SpinRite, since it's below the OS level anyway. It does the same thing as the surface scan in
chkdsk /r. You'll want to back up your files to external storage, and run a disk check from the drive manufacturer, as well as achkdsk/r (slave up the drive to another PC). – None – 2011-04-08T03:28:04.543Why would I not want to run SpinRite ? Given that it is below the OS level, that makes it the perfect candidate. It should look at the sectors and restore any data that might be lost/corrupted. Kinda too late, SpinRite is running as I type this :) – marcamillion – 2011-04-08T04:39:06.773
1On a failing hard drive, the last thing you want to run is a tool that reads areas of the disk thousands of times, with an unlimited possible run-time. You want to get your data off as soon as possible, with the least number of reads. – None – 2011-04-08T04:43:25.430
Full disclosure: I'm a licensed user of SpinRite. – None – 2011-04-08T04:43:59.703
But I thought that was the purpose of SpinRite. To recover/restore data so you can plug it in and back-it up before it dies ? – marcamillion – 2011-04-08T04:52:11.037
My major issue is that WHS uses software RAID. So I can't just pull the data off onto another drive and pop it back into the WHS. I have to get this drive working - so it doesn't freeze the WHS when trying to boot - then I have to 'remove it' from the WHS console. That shifts the data to the other drives. Highly annoying, but it seems that's the only way to go. So I am kinda hoping that this will put the drive in a state that will work - even temporarily - so I can put it back in and get it working. Or am I missing something ? – marcamillion – 2011-04-08T04:55:00.567
1Except where the damage is too severe, or there isn't sufficient free space, etc., etc. As I said before, I'd sooner get the data off before futzing with the drive. If a drive is badly damaged, SpinRite could run literally for years. – None – 2011-04-08T04:56:02.563
Go with the manufacturer's drive analysis tools first. See if the drive is physically damaged. Then move the data off as soon as possible. I see SpinRite as a last resort. – None – 2011-04-08T04:57:10.270
Ok will try that. I guess the question is if this drive is physically damaged, and I do get a replacement drive, how do I get my data back into WHS given that it is now looking for that drive ? – marcamillion – 2011-04-08T05:07:05.877
Ok so I just ran the SeaTools for Windows test - the only one that would run - and it failed and said I should download & run the SeaTools for DOS. It sounds like SpinRite to me. Am I better off running that, and then running SpinRite ? Or just going ahead and running SpinRite right away ? – marcamillion – 2011-04-08T05:27:58.993
Up to you :-). Sounds like the drive might be poked after all. – None – 2011-04-08T07:14:50.073
Well I ran the Seagate Tool for DOS and it found some errors and repaired them. Took a long while to run. I put the drive back into my WHS server and it worked. So now doing a backup and gonna send drive back to Seagate after - under Warranty. So far so good :) If you want to put something in the answer I will mark it as accepted. – marcamillion – 2011-04-08T16:16:28.037
I have done so. – None – 2011-04-08T17:31:07.880
1@marcamillion assuming you're using WHSv1's built-in Drive Extender technology, and you haven't set up your own software RAID. Then it isn't actually software RAID and you can just pull a disk out and plug it in another machine, and you will see the full NTFS file system with whichever files were on that disk. WHS DE places whole files on normal NTFS disks, and then keeps track of their whereabouts using "tombstones" on the system disk. This was one of the huge advantages of using WHSv1's Drive Extender technology over RAID, data recovery is just as easy as on a normal Windows system. – GAThrawn – 2011-04-15T17:04:11.733