HDD degraded than failed - Readynas 202 with 2 x Seagate ST4000VN000-1H4168 4TB
Hi there,
My Readynas 202 reported 1 of the 2 hdd (both are of same age, model, installed at the same time, approx 2 yrs old) degradation a few hours ago, followed immediately by another report of hdd failure, and then it was attempting to shut down.
By the time I got around to it, I got it to shut down gracefully, and after a few moments restarted the system, and it is now reporting that the same hard drive is degraded and it is now resyncing.
Sorry for my noob question, but does this mean that:
Should I be replacing the HDD that is failing?
If so, do i replace it with exactly the same model? Can I replace it with another model (say the NAS model), rather than the regular?
Should I consider replacing both?
Or is the system still okay after this recovery and I should just continue using it?
One piece of advice - RAID is not enough to keep your data safe. So I suggest putting a backup plan in place for your NAS. Backing up to a USB drive is probably the least expensive way to do this.
If you go to to the performance tab in the web UI, you'll see a "ball" icon next to each drive. Try clicking on those icons - you will see more detailed stats on the drive health. If you aren't sure how to read them, you can copy/paste them into a follow-up post.
Getting more details on what's going on will make it easier to make an informed recommendation. Generally if you are seeing multiple reports on the same drive, that usually means the drive should be replaced. 2 years is an early failure though.
2. If so, do i replace it with exactly the same model? Can I replace it with another model (say the NAS model), rather than the regular?
Your VN is a NAS-purposed drive already, though it is rebranded as "IronWolf" now. Probably it is still under warranty - so you can RMA it to seagate. They'll replace it with a recertified drive, not a new one. If you are in the US, you have the option of having them send you the replacement first, then you return the failing one. In my experience that is cost-effective, and also faster.
But you can go with a different drive model if you wish (or another manufacturer). Just make sure the replacement is at least 4 TB. A larger drive won't get you more space until you upgrade the other one to the new size. I recommend avoiding green and desktop models, and in particular lots of users have reported problems here with Seagate DM drves.
I wouldn't, unless there is something in the disk health stats that suggest it is at risk. There aren't a lot of posts here on failures with VN drives. Overall users who've chosen them seem to be happy with them.
