OPERATING SYSTEM RELOAD
REBUILD RAID DRIVES
RUNNING THE CHECKDISK UTILITY
RECONFIGURE THE RAID ARRAY
USING DATA RECOVERY SOFTWARE
REINITIALIZE RAID ARRAY
REFORMAT DRIVES IN THE ARRAY

RAID data recovery is an extremely complex type of recovery
that requires much experience and expertise with how RAID
arrays work.  If you have a RAID failure, it is best if you do not
try to recover the RAID yourself using "quick fix" techniques or
"off-the-shelf" data recovery software.  Contact a data recovery company as quickly as possible.  These companies have the capability to recover RAID arrays with advanced recovery tools
and techniques required to ensure a successful recovery.

The success of RAID recovery depends on the cause of RAID
failure, the configuration of the RAID array, and whether or
not the user has made attempts to recover the RAID.  Such
attempts can cause permanent data loss!

By using caution and the tips above, you can be on the road to
a successful recovery of your RAID array.

The reality: RAID fails

In reality and to the surprise of most, RAID could fail and often fail. See some typical scenario below :

When one hard disk fails, very often, there is no hot standby. As a result, the raid array is running on degraded mode. While waiting for the replacement drive which may take a day or two, the likelihood of next drive failure disabling the raid volume is very high. It is reasonable to assume that all the drives in the array are from the same batch and subject to equal amount of working stress. So if one disk fails, the other is also near imminent failure and it often does.

Most raid server has a single controller. Its failure will result in catastrophic single point of failure.

Frequently, due to power surge, the controller or a number of disk elements could fail resulting in total loss of data. It is also found that a power surge may corrupt the RAID configuration setting of NVRAM in the controller card.

It is also commonly found that while replacing a faulty drive in an attempt to rebuild the raid volume to healthy state, wrong procedures are performed resulting in wrong or partial rebuild, or complete system breakdown upon completion of rebuild.

Not to forget that a RAID configuration with fault tolerance at best only intends to protect the physical failure, but not logical corruption such as system corruption, virus infection, or inadvertent deletion.

Types Of RAID failures

To summarize, RAID server often fails as a result of the following situations and frequently, a combination of them :

• Malfunctioned Controller
• Raid rebuild error or volume reconstruction problem
• Missing RAID partition
• Multiple disk failure in off-line state resulting in loss of RAID volume
• Wrong replacement of good disk element belonging to a working raid volume
• Power Surge
• Data Deletion or reformat
• Virus Attack
• Loss of RAID configuration settings or system registry
• Inadvertent reconfiguration of RAID volume
• Loss of RAID disk access after system or application upgrade

• Identify a failed RAID 5 Volume
• Remove/Replace a Failed Drive in a Failed RAID 5 Volume
• Recover a RAID 5 Volume

…using Seagate’s BlackArmor Manager?

Seagate BlackArmor NAS 440 products come with a RAID 5 Volume by default to ensure data protection. If one drive fails, a user can:

• Easily identify the failed drive using the BlackArmor Manager and other tools.
• Remove the defective drive and replace it with a functioning drive provided by Seagate.
• Use BlackArmor Manager to claim the replacement drive and recover the RAID 5 volume.

All of these things can be accomplished while the BlackArmor NAS 440 is still running.

Procedure(s):
Part 1 – Identifying a Drive failure:
The following options are available for identifying drive failures.

• Web Events in BlackArmor Manager – if a drive fails or if a RAID is running in a degraded state, a Web Event will occur. A Web Event is shown via an amber bar with a warning message within it. The bar will be located at the top of the BlackArmor Manager pages (no matter which one) in your browser. After reviewing the event message, you can click the Acknowledge button to remove it.
• LCD Screen will display a message that denote a drive failure.
• Email notifications – If email setup is enabled through BlackArmor Manager. Users with their email address included in the Email Setup page.
• BlackArmor Manager’s Storage -> Disk Manager can also identify if a drive is failed. It will do so with messaging under a drive’s status.

Seagate Video Tutorial – Identifying a Drive Failure

Part 2 –Drive Removal/Replacement:
Follow these steps to remove and replace a hard drive.
NOTE: Only Seagate hard drives can be used for replacement. Failure to use Seagate replacement parts can and will forfeit the warranty period of the BlackArmor NAS 440/420.

WARNING – PLEASE READ
ESD precautions
Electrostatic discharge (ESD) can damage the processor, hard drives, main board, memory modules (RAM), and other BlackArmor components. Always observe the following precautions before replacing a hard drive:

• Do not remove a component from its protective packaging until you are ready to install it.
• Do not touch the component pins, leads, or circuitry.
• Wear a wrist grounding strap and attach it to a metal part of the computer before handling components. If a wrist strap is not available, maintain contact with the computer throughout any procedure requiring ESD protection.
• Keep the work area free of nonconductive materials, such as ordinary plastic assembly aids and foam packing.

Removing a Hard Drive

1. Open the BlackArmor Manager web interface.
2. In the menu bar, select Storage.
3. Select Disk Manager.
4. Beside the failed disk drive, click the Safe to Remove icon, and then click OK.
5. Open the front panel of the server.
6. Locate the failed hard drive. Ensure that there is no activity on the drive by checking its LED—it should not be illuminated.
   WARNING: Never remove more than one (1) drive at a time. Removing more than one drive will result in data loss.
7. Press down on the orange button to release the drive from the server. If the server is powered on, wait until the drive stops spinning (approximately one minute) before continuing.
8. Holding the handle, gently slide the hard drive partially out of the server until you can get a firm grip on the drive itself.
   Caution: Because the hard drive is heavy, do not completely remove it or carry it by the plastic handle. Hold the drive firmly on the top and bottom.
9. Position (hold) the hard drive/carrier so that the drive label is facing up and the connectors are facing you.
10. Carefully bend the right side of the plastic carrier outward to release the failed drive from the carrier.
11. Remove the failed hard from the plastic carrier enclosure.

Inserting a New Hard Drive

1. Insert the new hard drive so that it fits completely and snugly into the carrier.
2. Carefully slide the new drive into the server. Push firmly to install it completely, and then close the handle to lock the drive into place.
   The hard drive’s LED should turn green.
3. Close the front panel of the server.

Seagate Interactive Tutorial – Hard Drive Replacement

Step 3 – Drive Removal/Replacement:
The following provides the steps necessary for using Seagate’s BlackArmor Manager to claim a replacement drive and recover a RAID 5 volume.
Note: It is assumed that you are logged into the BlackArmor Manager as an admin user before proceeding.

Claiming the New HDD:

1. Mouseover Storage and click the Disk Manager link. The Disk Manager page opens.
2. Locate the replacement hard drive from the list provided (it should be listed as Foreign) and click on the Claim Disk icon. A window opens, asking you to confirm this request.
3. Click the OK button. The drive reclamation starts processing. When finished, the Disk Manager displays a text message stating that, "HDD (hard disk drive)…claimed successfully". The disk is ready to be recovered into a volume.

Recovering the degraded RAID 5 Volume:

1. Mouseover Storage and click the Volumes link. The Volumes page opens.
2. Click the Recover icon. A Volumes page opens showing the Volume Name to be recovered and the Disk Selection (HDD Number).
3. Click the Submit button. A window opens asking you to confirm this request.
4. Click the OK button. The recovery starts processing. When finished, the Volumes page displays a text message stating "RAID configuration changed successfully – resynching/formatting".

Note: Recovery may require a long time. Average recovery times vary from 4 – 12 hours, depending on the size of the volume. When finished the "RAID configuration…" message disappears.
The RAID 5 volume is recovered.

Seagate Interactive Tutorial – Recovering the RAID 5 Volume