Re-Adding the same disk to a degraded volume

[KesBen]

I've been tinkering with FreeNAS and various plugins for about a month, and I'm really digging it, especially when you get something working perfectly after going mano-a-mano with the CLI.

I've got a bit of a problem, but not an urgent one, as my data is still all there.
I have an HP ex495 home media server, with 4 2TB disks.
As I'd be away from my home for a bit, and there is a kid around, I turned off everything carefully.

Today, I turned on the server, and there was no reply at all from it. Upon some research, I found that the HP ex495 tries to boot from the bottom disk whenever it's attached. This is not good for me, as I have FreeNAS on a 16GB stick on the back.

After slightly removing the bottom drive, I restarted the server and FreeNAS came back like a champ. However, now I have a status of DEGRADED and I'm unable to add the disk back to the volume.

Is there any particulary way to recover this without a reboot? Maybe through gpart or some other tool?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[depasseg]

http://doc.freenas.org/9.3/freenas_storage.html#replacing-a-failed-drive

 

[nojohnny101]

Sounds like you need to change your boot order in BIOS. have you done that?

 

[KesBen]

http://doc.freenas.org/9.3/freenas_storage.html#replacing-a-failed-drive

That is something I've tried in the meantime. It seems that FreeNas is wise enough to realize that the drive is already part of the volume, and doesn't let me proceed with replacing disk, even with the Forced option checked.

What would be a way to manually repair this?

Sounds like you need to change your boot order in BIOS. have you done that?

Well, the sad thing is that since the HP Ex495 is a dedicated server, there's no video output and no way for me to get into the bios
(Actually, I'm lying: there is a way to get into the BIOS but it requires a full disassembly and making your own VGA adapter)


At this moment I'm wondering if I should just nuke my hard drive and do a normal 'failed' drive replacement. Seems like it'd be easier.

 

[Bidule0hm]

IIRC the correct procedure for this case is:

- shutdown the server
- plug the drive
- boot the server
- export the pool
- import the pool
- wait for the resilver to end

But wait for the confirmation from another member, I'm not 100 % sure on this one.

 

[depasseg]

But wait for the confirmation from another member, I'm not 100 % sure on this one.

That's what I would have recommended, except the OP can't easily choose the boot device, and therefore can't reboot. Because if he reboots, then he has to pull the bottom disk in order for it to boot into freenas. He could try to reboot, let bios detect all the disks, then pull the bottom one, and then the second that the freenas boot menu pops up reinsert the bottom disk. It's a long shot though.

Might be worth the dis-assembly and getting a VGA header. I had to do it for a repurposed Readynas.
https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/freenas-on-readynas-pro-6.24666/#post-152916

 

[Bidule0hm]

Well, a MB where you can't access the BIOS is just good enough to go to the trash IMHO... :)

 

[danb35]

Isn't it possible to simply online the disk?

 

[KesBen]

Well, after some thought I went ahead and wiped the disk and added it back via the Replace function. Took a while but nothing's looking out of place for almost a whole day since.

I also found this guide
http://www.xodustech.com/guides/hp-mediasmart-ex495-vga-bios
and went ahead and ordered parts to make a breakout cable for BIOS access, similar to depasseg's:

https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/freenas-on-readynas-pro-6.24666/#post-152916

So hopefully I can get in on there and change the boot order. Thanks again for the help!