Can I replace a Hard Drive with the Server Running

[Eduardo José González A]

Hi,

I Have a 4 Drive Raid 5 server, which has one damage. My question, I can replace that hard drive with a new one (Same characteristics) with the server running or do I have to do a special procedure to replace the HardDrive.

[Patrick Terlisten · Accepted solution]

Hello Eduardo,

if it's a hot-plug drive, just pull the defective drive and insert the new one. The rebuild should start without any intervention.

Regards,
Patrick

[Gerardo Arceri]

It's not as simple as it sounds
1) What controller are you using?
2) How are the Hard Disks setup (RAID1/0/5/6)?

Even if the raid controller/hard disks supported Hotswap, if you had chosen a RAID0 array you won't be able to hotswap the drive.
Also it's always good to have a working recent backup of the data stored on the disks.