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Difficulty: HardStorage Drives and RAID Array Issues

A network technician is troubleshooting a storage server configured with a hardware RAID 10 array consisting of four 2 TB SATA hard drives. Users report significant latency during file transfers, though data remains accessible. The RAID storage management console reports that the array is currently in an optimal state, but Drive 3 displays a S.M.A.R.T. warning: 'Predictive Failure - Reallocated Sector Count Threshold Exceeded.' Which of the following is the most appropriate immediate action the technician should take to resolve the issue while minimizing downtime and data risk?

  1. Hot-swap Drive 3 with a spare drive of equal or greater capacity and initiate a rebuild through the storage management console.Answer
  2. B
    Delete the existing RAID 10 configuration, re-create the volume without Drive 3, and restore all files from backup.
  3. C
    Format Drive 3 using operating system disk management utilities to clear bad sectors before forcing an array rebuild.
  4. D
    Break the striped mirror pair containing Drive 3 to convert the volume into a RAID 0 array for increased performance.

Answer

Hot-swap the failing drive with a spare drive of equal or greater capacity and initiate a rebuild through the storage management console.
When a S.M.A.R.T. predictive failure alert occurs on a disk within a fault-tolerant array like RAID 10, replacing the failing drive with an equivalent or larger capacity drive and executing an array rebuild restores disk integrity without interrupting data availability or wiping the array configuration.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the reported error and S.M.A.R.T. status
Identified Drive 3 as suffering from physical bad sectors leading to predictive failure while the RAID 10 array is still operational.
S.M.A.R.T. warnings indicate impending mechanical or disk medium degradation before complete drive breakdown.
2
Select the correct remediation procedure for hardware RAID member failure
Replace Drive 3 with a new, healthy drive of equal or higher capacity.
RAID 10 provides mirror redundancy, allowing drive replacement and array rebuild while retaining full data availability.
3
Initiate array rebuild via RAID management tools
Data from the mirroring partner drive is copied to the replacement drive, restoring performance and full fault tolerance.
Rebuilding synchronizes mirrored data blocks to ensure parity and redundancy across the array.

Key Concept

Handling Predictive Drive Failures in Fault-Tolerant RAID Arrays
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Topics

Storage Drives and RAID Array Issues

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