One or More Disks are Missing

[MrGlasspoole]

Hi,
 
i have a drive that after some time always disappears from Windows and i get the message:

One or More Disks are Missing on 'HECTOR'
Disks: WDC WD15EARS-00Z5B1 (S/N: WD-WMAVU2410680) 23°C - 1,36 TB (Pool: Hive (Z:\))

 

After every reboot i get:

No Disks are Missing on 'HECTOR'
All the missing disks have been re-connected and are no longer missing.

 

 

Tomorrow i get a new drive and the question is how to replace the drive if it disappears.

Can i put it in another PC (hoping it does not disappear there) and copy the files somehow?

[Christopher (Drashna)]

Well, it really depends on how the disk is connected.

 

In some cases, the controller can crash and cause this sort of behavior. I've seen this a lot with HighPoint controllers, especially with "sub par" disks.  It disappears until you power cycle the system.

 

 

If the drive is continuing to do this, then let us know. 

And you may want to remove the disk from the pool, and RMA the drive.

[MrGlasspoole]

Sorry but that does not answer the question how to move the files from the drive connected to another PC.

 

That drive is from 2010 - so no RMA

And the drive is attached to a SuperMicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

[Christopher (Drashna)]

Sorry, I misunderstood you.

 

If the drive is disappearing like this, it's most likely due to an issue somewhere between the drive and the controller.  So if you're moving hardware, then it's possible that switching hardware out may completely resolve the issue.

 

The card you're using is based on the Marvell chipset, which is is similar to the HighPoint cards.  It very well could be the same issues that afflict the HighPoint cards (specifically... the exact issue you're describing). 

 

If possible, try connecting the drive to a different port and see if that helps.  

 

However... looking at the reviews for this card, it seems that the drive dropout is a VERY common issue.

 

 

 

As for the disk contents, which I suspect that you're referring to... you should be able to remove the drive from the pool.  If it's not staying in long enough, that makes things much more complicated. 

 

You could use the "Disk Usage Limiter" balancer to clear the contents of the drive (uncheck the "Duplicated" and "Unduplicated" options for the disk in question).  

 

If the entire contents of the disk was duplicated (or if your entire pool is duplicated), then this is simple. Just physically remove the drive, and then remove the missing disk from the pool. The software will recheck the pool and reduplicate the contents as needed. If you add the new disk to the pool at this point, it will attempt to use it for storage (making this very seemless)

If you had unduplicated data on the drive, then the process gets more complicated. 

There are a few options, but basically, it amounts to copying the contents from the hidden Poolpart folder on this drive to the new drive, and then adding the new drive to the pool