Rebuilding RAID5 Taking Forever

gabstero

Commendable
Nov 3, 2016
15
0
1,510
Hi gang!

So my RAID5 (parity) of 4x 3Tb RED (total of 8.1TB) showed that one disk had errors, etc. I swapped it out for a new one, but the rebuilding takes forever. It's already 5 days since it started the rebuild. See screenshot here:

IMG-1069.jpg


There is no progress bar on anywhere. The total data on it was about 5Tb worth (mainly photos and video files).

So my question is... how long is too long? Is there an alternative to RAID if it takes this long to swap a disk and have the machine functional again?

Thanks!
Gabi
 
Solution
I would recommend that you immediately backup your RAID. There are issues with RAID5 arrays that show up when rebuilding an array. Long story short there is a high probability the rebuild can trigger a critical error and lose the entire array when the hard drives are larger than 2TB. This is why lots of IT people think RAID5 should be abandoned. I don't agree I think if you understand the problem you can still successfully use RAID5.

lesterf1020

Distinguished
Mar 27, 2006
74
0
18,660
I would recommend that you immediately backup your RAID. There are issues with RAID5 arrays that show up when rebuilding an array. Long story short there is a high probability the rebuild can trigger a critical error and lose the entire array when the hard drives are larger than 2TB. This is why lots of IT people think RAID5 should be abandoned. I don't agree I think if you understand the problem you can still successfully use RAID5.
 
Solution