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August 23rd, 2025 10:57
Non Raid disk status on replacing a failed disk on Dell PowerEdge R430
Hi, we have a dell PowerEdge R430 with the PERC H330 Mini (Embedded) RAID controller. We have RAID 5 configured with 7 disks and after a few years one of the disk have failed. Given the importance of the server we decided to use a brand new similar size and model disk (DELL Exos 10E2400) which was already on another new unused server. Upon replacing the drive, the RAID controller identified it as "Non RAID" and didn't start to rebuild automatically. On the setup page, there is an action to make this drive as RAID. and that action has a warning that says making it raid compatible will overwrite any OS created RAID. I am not sure if this is the way to go about it. and feedback is greatly appreciated.
DELL-Charles R
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August 26th, 2025 18:13
Hello,
Did you have a hot spare before?
What does the Virtual Disk look like?
It sounds like you got the non-RAID drive issue resolved and assigned a hot spare.
If the virtual disk is optimal then you are all set and the replacement drive will be your new hot spare.
Birukk
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August 24th, 2025 15:54
I get the Non RAID part working by looking at other threads in the forum. Now the disk is in ready state and I have set it as a dedicated spare for the virtual disk with the failed disk drive (since it wasn't automatically rebuilding). I still don't see any signs of an ongoing rebuilding process on the disk though. Is there an additional step I have missed? Thank you for your support.
Dell-Martin S
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August 25th, 2025 11:59
Hi,
here are some Possible Reasons for No Rebuild:
Check Virtual Disk Status:
Navigate to the "Manage Virtual Disks" section in the RAID controller interface.
Verify the status of the virtual disk that lost the drive. It should show as "Degraded" due to the failed disk.
Look for an option to manually start the rebuild process.
Manual Rebuild Trigger:
If the disk is assigned as a dedicated spare, there might be an option like "Start Rebuild" or "Rebuild Now" in the virtual disk management page.
Select the new disk (now in "Ready" state) and initiate the rebuild manually.
Verify Disk Compatibility:
Ensure the new disk is fully compatible with the RAID 5 array (same size, model, and firmware as the other disks).
If the disk is slightly different (e.g., firmware version), the controller might hesitate to start the rebuild.
Controller Firmware:
Check if the PERC H330 Mini firmware is up to date. Outdated firmware can sometimes cause issues with automatic rebuilds.
Monitor Progress:
Once the rebuild starts, monitor the progress in the RAID controller interface. Rebuilds can take several hours depending on the disk size and system load.
Birukk
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August 26th, 2025 18:00
@Dell-Martin S Thank you for your response. The virtual disk status actually shows online which is unexpected. The Remaining redundancy column is showing 1 which I understand to be 1 more disk failure away from losing the array (or is this before the array loses its redundancy). The disk is the same model and size as the existing disks and I don't see any option to manually rebuild. Is there something I should be looking at? Should the virtual disk be showing online with a failed disk and a Remaining redundancy of 1?
Birukk
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August 26th, 2025 19:40
@DELL-Charles R Thank you, your comments were very insightful for me to dig into the Lifecycle controller logs. As the RAID was not initially setup and management by me, I have very little information about the initial setup but looking at the logs give me a very good picture which happens to be that the RAID was setup with 6 disks with 1 additional disk as a dedicated hot spare. When one of the disks fails the dedicate hot spare was already used to rebuild and put the virtual disk in an optimal state. Now when I replace the originally failed disk, I believe I should have expected a copyback from the hot spare to the new replacement disk (as there were a few times this happened in the log through the years) but that didn't happen and the new replacement disk is now set as a dedicated hot spare for the virtual disk. Thank you for your response.