Replace a failed drive

Replace a failed storage drive and restore cluster redundancy and capacity.

Replace a failed storage drive to restore cluster redundancy and capacity. This procedure does not apply to operating system drives.

Before you begin

• Obtain a compatible replacement drive.

• Access the cluster CLI with permissions to manage drives.

• Schedule a maintenance window if your server does not support hot swapping.

When rebuild capacity is unavailable, a failed drive reduces data redundancy and protection.

Replace the drive

1. Identify the failed drive and record its UUID and host ID.

   weka cluster drive -F node=invalid -o id,uuid,host,hostname,node,status

   If the command does not show the failed drive, run:

   weka cluster drive -F status=inactive -o id,uuid,host,hostname,node,status

   A failed drive displays an invalid node ID and an INACTIVE status.

2. Deactivate the failed drive.

   weka cluster drive deactivate <drive-uuid>

3. Remove the drive from the cluster.

   weka cluster drive remove <drive-uuid>

4. Replace the physical drive. Follow the server vendor's service procedure.

5. Confirm that the operating system detects the replacement drive.

   lsblk

   The output shows the new device and devices not used by the data path.

6. Add the replacement drive to the cluster. Use the failed drive's host ID from Step 1.

   weka cluster drive add <host-id> <device-path>

   For example:

   weka cluster drive add 1 /dev/nvme1n1

7. Confirm that the drive joins the cluster and monitor recovery.

   weka status

   When the rebuild completes, the replacement drive becomes ACTIVE.

Related information

See Shrink a cluster for drive deactivation and removal details.