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A question about certification. My plan is to create a 6-disk RAID 6 (using the beta softRAID). The disks are certifying now (20TB drives, so it will be ≈ 5 days, I believe). I plan to have a 7th drive on the shelf as a ready spare. Is there any reason not to certify that disk now along with the original six? If a drive fails two years down the road, is the certification still valid?
Posted : 18/01/2026 3:04 pm
Generally 20TB drives take 10 days.
You ask a good question about how long drives can sit on a shelf and be good. I would at least do a 2 pass certify if it has been more than a year. The lubricant can get sticky after a year on a shelf, or other issues could arise. Usually not, but I would do another couple passes just to be sure. (A one pass is not enough as the last pass is all zeros, so it is not really a test of the drive, it would be the equivalent of "verify disk" only)
Posted : 19/01/2026 12:10 am
Topic starter
Generally 20TB drives take 10 days.
You ask a good question about how long drives can sit on a shelf and be good. I would at least do a 2 pass certify if it has been more than a year. The lubricant can get sticky after a year on a shelf, or other issues could arise. Usually not, but I would do another couple passes just to be sure. (A one pass is not enough as the last pass is all zeros, so it is not really a test of the drive, it would be the equivalent of "verify disk" only)
So a reasonable plan might be to re-certify the spare annually?
Posted : 19/01/2026 4:21 pm
@filmguy
Here is a guideline:
A spare drive should be periodically re-certified to ensure it remains ready for immediate use. For mission-critical systems, we recommend re-certifying spares every three to six months. For most professional environments, every six months to a year is sufficient. Small business or less mission critical environments, a year is recommended. Drives that have not been exercised for long periods can develop latent issues, so a spare that hasn’t been validated in a year should not be assumed to be deployment-ready.
Also, make sure to follow the guidelines about 2 copies of data, one off site (can be cloud storage) and a copy on site. Data is more valuable than most consider.
Posted : 20/01/2026 9:49 pm
