How to Identify Failed Drive?

[Scott McCarthy]

First off, let me say that I run three dedicated FreeNAS servers on my own servers I built running ECC memory and AMD FX processors and these things FREAKIN ROCK! These devices are more stable and perform better than purchased dedicated NAS and SAN hardware we have bought in the past. FreeNAS is absolutely incredible!

I just have one question in preparing for a future potential problem. I used SATA drives on a few of the units and hooked the drives to the motherboard directly with SATA cables as directed by the docs. I have four drives in each unit and use high quality NAS drives.

When I built the boxes, I should have marked each drive and what SATA port it is connected to in the event I ever need to replace a bad or failed drive. Is there a way to identify each drive and what SATA port # it is connected to on the motherboard if I ever have a drive fail and need to replace it?

I am trying to be proactive and do DR planning and don't want to be in a panic if I have a drive failure. Is there anyway I can identify the drive and # of SATA port it's connected to in the event I have a RAID drive failure?

Thanks again and I LOVE FreeNAS!

 

[SweetAndLow]

Try searching this question is answered ask over the place. I also think it's in the docs. You can use the gtpid to get the serial number for the drive and then you remove that drive with the save serial number.

 

[Scott McCarthy]

Thank you for your response. I had no idea this was a common question and assumed it was very rarely asked. I will search for it.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

Best practice is to mark the drives with their serial #s (enough characters to distinguish them) on whichever part is easily visible when you open the case. My WD Reds came with serial # labels on one end, but in my box it's the other end that's visible :(

 

[Scott McCarthy]

Robert, thank you very much for your reply. I always appreciate when ppl take the time to reply rather than telling me to search the forum. I will definitely mark out the drives with the serials as you suggested. When a drive fails, do you identify it to replace it by serial or by the SATA port on the MB? Thanks again!

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

I always appreciate when ppl take the time to reply rather than telling me to search the forum

Sure, but it can get old replying to the same questions many times, so advising a search is often a valid response.

When a drive fails, do you identify it to replace it by serial or by the SATA port on the MB?

Matching the gptid to the serial # is the only reliable way. Device IDs can change between boots, especially when a drive fails. Imagine you have ada0, ada1 and ada2. Now ada1 fails, and somewhere along the way you reboot. You now have ada0 and ada1, and the drive at ada1 used to be ada2. If you replaced the drive attached to port #2, you'd be sorry.

 

[Bidule0hm]

I've made a script to do that, if you're interested the link (useful scripts) is in my signature ;)

 

[satyr]

I tagged the visible portion of my drives with color codes, which I then assigned to their S/N within the storage tags in FreeNAS.