PowerEdge HDD: How to identify a HDD failure and to solve the issue?

Note: This article is part of the Server Tutorials: "Raid and Disks" available here .

How to identify a physical disk failure?

Hard drive failures may occur because of logical, head, or mechanical failures. The following table describes the symptoms of failing hard drives:

Symptom	Description
Noisy hard drives	Noisy hard drives indicate head crash, noisy bearings, or a failed motor.
Data and disk errors	Files may not get saved or programs may stop responding.
Hard drive not detected	Operating system does not detect the hard drive.
System crash	Blue screen errors.
Slow read-write process	Delay in reading or writing data on the hard drive.

Perform the following steps if any of these symptoms occur:

1. Check if the hard drives are installed correctly.
2. Check the hard drive indicators LED.
3. For systems with LCD panel, check for the following error codes:

Error Code	Error Message	Description
E1810	Hard drive <number> fault.	Hard drive <number> has had a fault as determined by the SAS subsystem.
E1811	Hard drive <number> rebuild aborted.	Drive <number> has had its rebuild aborted.
E1812	Hard drive <number> removed.	Drive <number> has been removed from the system.

If your system is under warranty and your hard drive has failed with faults, please open a case with the support to get your drive replaced.

When facing possible Hard Disk Disk failures, here are some of the steps to follow to try and troubleshoot the issue.

Before attempting any troubleshooting or diagnostic steps, always ensure that you have a full backup of the data located on the server.

How to troubleshoot a Hard Drive failure?

The first step is to determine if the issue you are facing is linked to a hardware or a software issue.

Here is a HDD and RAID troubleshooting decision tree:

Step 1 : How did you first notice the issue?
- LED on one of several of the HDD slots is blinking amber, or amber and green.
- Error message on the LCD panel.
- Error message on POST or in the RAID Controller BIOS.
- Error message in Dell OpenManage Server Administrator or OpenManage Essentials.
- Error in the Operating system.
- Performance is slow when copying files.

Step 2 : Follow relevant Diagnostic steps
- Hard drive LED flashing amber, Amber and green or LCD error message: you can look up the error and follow the steps provided in the following resource library : Chassis status indicators and hard drive carrier LEDs.
- Errors in the operating system: you can look up the error and follow the steps provided in the following resource library : HDD and RAID related errors in the Operating Systems.
- For errors on POST, the Raid Controller or in the OpenManage monitoring tools, you can look up the error in our Knowledge base.
- For performance related issues, see the Hard Drive Performance Issues section.

Step 3 : Gather information and logs for analysis
- Review the following section: Before opening an incident : gathering Logs

Step 4 : Resolve the issue
- Perform the relevant steps as indicated by the diagnostics performed.
- Contact Dell Technical Support either online or by phone, to arrange for further troubleshooting if needed and when apliccable, arrange for a replacement part.
- Alternatively, you can use the online portal Dell TechDirect to open a ticket with Dell Technical Support, and if you have the option, arrange for parts replacement.

For further reading on troubleshooting, diagnosing and resolving RAID and hard disk drive issues, you can also review the following articles on the Dell Support site:

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Article ID: SLN292295

Last Date Modified: 04/05/2018 08:51 AM

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