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Managing Disks - Certify, Verify, Initialize
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Topic starter
I have a new ThunderBay 4 which is currently certifying all disks.
When I bought it, I expected it to have Toshiba drives like my other TB4 unit (and I keep a spare Toshiba drive on had), but it came with HGST drives so now I need to keep a spare HGST drive on hand.
If I build a 1+0 RAID with the four disks that are in there, then get a spare drive later this week, how can I remove one drive, and put in the spare one to certify it?
I don't want to have SoftRAID start to rebuild onto the new (spare drive). Should I just remove all four drives, and install the single spare drive to certify it, then replace the original four?
Posted : 13/01/2018 10:41 am
You do not have to have another HGST, any similar size disk will be OK.
You could either certify while your RAID was missing a disk, or reove the disks, to certify it, either way.
Considering the new (eventual replacement) disk may be 2-3 years old, sitting on a shelf all that time, does it make sense to buy one to sit on a shelf? You would be better off, when SoftRAID alerts you a disk may fail, to purchase one overnight shipping, it would probably be more reliable than one that has been on a shelf for ayear or more.
Worth considering.
Posted : 13/01/2018 12:17 pm
Topic starter
As the formatted capacities are slightly different (3720MB) vs 3725MB, how does SoftRAID work? Is it not a block-level mirror? I don't really know how it works but it just seems much better to have the exact same mechanism in all four slots.
I have considered returning the unit to B&H and trying to get one with Toshiba drives (as OWC specs them) so that all my main drives in both units as well as my spare match.
What is the shelf life of a drive? I could obviously re-certify it if needed once a year or so.
Posted : 13/01/2018 2:47 pm
Topic starter
One other thought. I store the spare drive in the same orientation that it would sit in the enclosure . Does this matter at all?
Posted : 13/01/2018 2:59 pm
not a bit.
Posted : 13/01/2018 3:56 pm
As the formatted capacities are slightly different (3720MB) vs 3725MB, how does SoftRAID work? Is it not a block-level mirror? I don't really know how it works but it just seems much better to have the exact same mechanism in all four slots.
I have considered returning the unit to B&H and trying to get one with Toshiba drives (as OWC specs them) so that all my main drives in both units as well as my spare match.
What is the shelf life of a drive? I could obviously re-certify it if needed once a year or so.
If the drive is smaller, then it cannot be added to the mirroror RAID volume. You can resize the volume slightly (reduce it) to make it match the extra disk.
You can replace your drive, but I would not consider it a priority. SoftRAID does not care about drive manufacturer, as long as it is reliable. it is unlikely to make any difference.
The shelf life of a drive is a fair question. If you recertify it each year, probably similar to a drive in use. when a drive sits, its possible the lubricants can stick, which used to be an issue, but not so much any longer.
The theoretical answer is 5 years. But I don not know of any statistical study supporting this number.
Posted : 13/01/2018 4:01 pm
Topic starter
Well technically the Toshiba and HGST drives are 4TB which is the same but the detailed specs list the Toshiba as having a formatted capacity of 3720mb and the HGST as 3725mb so the Toshiba drive might not work directly with as a replacement for the HGST because 5MB are missing.
Posted : 13/01/2018 5:36 pm
You can specify the volume size. Make it 3700 or 3600, for example. Then there will not be a problem. (If your volume already exists, then you can use the resize command, as long as all disks are present)
Posted : 15/01/2018 11:01 pm
