5.3 Given a scenario, troubleshoot hard drives and RAID arrays

Question 1

If you see a message that says ___,” then this drive may be having a problem reading or writing information to that drive.

Answer 1

“Cannot read from the source disk

Question 2

What should you do if there’s constant LED lights that are flashing on a hard drive as you’re trying to read and write information to the drive?

Answer 2

Back up the drive immediately

Question 3

After backing up a drive due to hearing clicking noise, or slowness after reading/writing to it what next steps should you take?

Answer 3

Check inside for any loose or damaged cables.
Check for overheating.
Check that it is getting enough voltage (power supply).
Run some hard drive diagnostics.

Question 4

How should you run hard drive diagnostic software?

Answer 4

Most manufacturers of hard drives will provide you with diagnostic software that’s specific to that drive, run it from a known-good computer.

Question 5

What are some symptoms of hard drive issues during the boot process?

Answer 5

Clicking noise from drive

beeping during POST

Constant lights/no lights are showing for hard drive access.

Error messages

“Operating system not found”

Question 6

“Operating system not found” could mean what?

Answer 6

The hard drive is there, but it’s unable to detect the OS on that hard drive.

Question 7

When troubleshooting boot issues, always check for…

Answer 7

Removable media and disabled storage interfaces. Try other SATA connectors.

Question 8

Before working on a RAID array you must find out what?

Answer 8

Find out which drive/volume is having an issue before taking them out.

Question 9

RAID ___ will usually tell you exactly which drive is having a problem and which one should be replaced.

Answer 9

Management software

Question 10

Depending on what type of RAID is being used, after replacing a faulty drive you may have to…

Answer 10

Restore the data from a backup or the RAID array may be able to restore itself.

Question 11

For ___, a single drive failure will break the entire array and you will have data loss. So if you replace a drive, you’ll need to restore from tape.

Answer 11

RAID 0

Question 12

What RAID types will automatically restore/rebuild data on a new drive after replacing a faulty drive?

Answer 12

RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10

Question 13

What RAID types will be operational if you lose a single drive?

Answer 13

RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10

Question 14

What is the failure condition of RAID 0?

Answer 14

The failure of one drive will cause the entire array to fail.

Question 15

What is the failure condition of RAID 1?

Answer 15

All drives in the array failing.

Question 16

What is the failure condition of RAID 5?

Answer 16

Two or more drives failing. It remains operational if only one drive fails.

Question 17

What is the failure condition of RAID 10?

Answer 17

Two disks of a single mirror failing.

Question 18

When is RAID 0 typically implemented?

Answer 18

This configuration is typically implemented to increase performance/speed.

Question 19

BSOD and SDOD can be signs of what?

Answer 19

hard drive issues

Question 20

Many drives will tell you when problems start to occur using a technology called ___.

Answer 20

SMART

Question 21

What does SMART stand for, what does it do?

Answer 21

Self Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology, it includes multiple error categories known as SMART statistics. These can proactively see issues before a drive fails completely.

Question 22

This allows the system administrator to get proactive information of when a drive may be going bad, so they can schedule a time to get the drive replaced and make sure that everything continues to run without any user downtime.

Answer 22

SMART statistics

Question 23

These can proactively see issues before a drive fails completely.

Answer 23

SMART errors

Question 24

What my cause a RAID to stop working?

Answer 24

This can happen in any RAID array that does not mirror data. It is usually caused by one of the drives failing.

Question 25

What my cause a “RAID not found” error?

Answer 25

This problem could be caused by issues with the RAID controller or the management software.

Question 26

his is known as the “blue screen of death.” On Windows, this is a stop error, and on Apple, you will get a continuous pinwheel on the screen. This typically indicates a fatal failure, such as…

Answer 26

CPU dying, hard drive issue, burned-out part, etc

Question 27

You won’t hear much from a ___, but you may on a conventional ____ that can spin at speeds such as

• 5,400rpm
• 7,200rpm
• 10,000rpm
• 15,000rpm.

Answer 27

Solid State Drive (SSD)

hard disk drive

Question 28

Server hard drive errors are harder to detect due to proximity, a good way to physically detect errors is to…

Answer 28

Turn off the overhead lights and watch the hard drive indicators. If you see an amber light, troubleshoot this server a little further.

Question 29

There are various software platforms that will notify the operator (regarding servers) of the “health” of the hard drive, but nothing compares to ___ periodically.

Answer 29

physically checking

Question 30

Read/write failure indicates what?

Answer 30

This indicates a dying hard drive and could happen if the read/write head crashes.

Question 31

Slow performance can indicate what?

Answer 31

This can indicate that a drive has already failed or that there are errors on the drive files. There may also be issues with virtual memory.