Removing a data disk

The only time that you should remove a data disk from a storage system is if the disk is not functioning correctly. If you want to remove a data disk so that it can be used in another system, you must convert it to a hot spare disk first.

About this task

You can cause Data ONTAP to fail the disk immediately or allow a disk copy to finish before the disk is failed. If you do not fail the disk immediately, you must wait for the disk copy to finish before physically removing the disk. This operation might take several hours, depending on the size of the disk and the load on the storage system.

Do not immediately fail a disk unless it is causing immediate performance or availability issues for your storage system. Depending on your storage system configuration, additional disk failures could result in data loss.

Steps

Determine the name of the disk you want to remove.
If the disk is reporting errors, you can find the disk name in the log messages that report disk errors. The name is prefixed with the word "Disk".
Determine the location of the disk you want to remove by entering the following command: aggr status -r
The location of the disk appears to the right of its name, in the columns HA, SHELF, and BAY.

Take the appropriate action based on whether you need to fail the disk immediately.

If you...	Then...
Can wait for the copy operation to finish (recommended)	Enter the following command to pre-fail the disk: `disk fail disk_name` Data ONTAP pre-fails the specified disk and attempts to create a replacement disk by copying the contents of the pre-failed disk to a spare disk. If the copy operation is successful, then Data ONTAP fails the disk and the new replacement disk takes its place. If the copy operation fails, the pre-failed disk fails and the storage system operates in degraded mode until the RAID system reconstructs a replacement disk.
Need to remove the disk immediately	Enter the following command to cause the disk to fail immediately: `disk fail -i disk_name` The disk fails and the storage system operates in degraded mode until the RAID system reconstructs a replacement disk.

If you...

Then...

Can wait for the copy operation to finish (recommended)

Enter the following command to pre-fail the disk: disk fail disk_name

Data ONTAP pre-fails the specified disk and attempts to create a replacement disk by copying the contents of the pre-failed disk to a spare disk.

If the copy operation is successful, then Data ONTAP fails the disk and the new replacement disk takes its place. If the copy operation fails, the pre-failed disk fails and the storage system operates in degraded mode until the RAID system reconstructs a replacement disk.

Need to remove the disk immediately

Enter the following command to cause the disk to fail immediately: disk fail -i disk_name

The disk fails and the storage system operates in degraded mode until the RAID system reconstructs a replacement disk.

Ensure that the disk you want to remove is shown as failed by entering the following command, and looking for its disk name:aggr status -f
Do not remove the disk until its name appears in the list of failed disks.
Remove the failed disk from the disk shelf, following the instructions in the hardware guide for your disk shelf model.