StorCenter disk failure

[DaveAllen]

Hello,
We have a Iomega StorCenter 1TB (2x500Gb) NAS with a failing disk. Nowhere on the Iomega website we can find any document explaining the failed disk replacement procedure. Contacting the Iomega Support is worse than a disaster and only prepares you for suicidal ideas!! Can anybody help us please?
Many thanx,
Dave Allen

 

[house70]

Are the disks setup as a RAID 1?

 

[DaveAllen]

Are the disks setup as a RAID 1?

Yes they are. The unit did well for about 3 years and then one disk failed. The problem now - as Iomega doesn't offer any failed disk swap procedure for this unit - is to swap the defective disk with a new one without loosing any files.

 

[house70]

If you know how to open up the enclosure, it should be pretty straightforward. Remove the bad HDD and insert the new one, same capacity or greater. The array should rebuild after that. Need to go into the NAS management (usually a browser-based window) and tell it to rebuild it from there.
The NAS should have an IP address that you can punch in your browser and should take you to the management window, kinda like setting up a router.
The data is mirrored on the other disk, so you will not lose any of it. When the rebuilding is about to begin, it should warn you about erasing the data from the new disk; just ignore it, there is no data on the new disk (but they assume it might be).

 

[DaveAllen]

If you know how to open up the enclosure, it should be pretty straightforward. Remove the bad HDD and insert the new one, same capacity or greater. The array should rebuild after that. Need to go into the NAS management (usually a browser-based window) and tell it to rebuild it from there.
The NAS should have an IP address that you can punch in your browser and should take you to the management window, kinda like setting up a router.
The data is mirrored on the other disk, so you will not lose any of it. When the rebuilding is about to begin, it should warn you about erasing the data from the new disk; just ignore it, there is no data on the new disk (but they assume it might be).

Thanx for your prompt reply. Just to make the conversation easier and to give you a feeling of my (our) knowledge level, just to avoid basic things. I'm acting as a consultant for an ICT company and we are pretty familiar with IT, from HW through SW including Networking. The problem with the NAS Explorer is that, first it doesn't offer the possibility to determine which disk is failing; second there it no tab or button to start any rebuild whatsoever. This means when one uninstalls the wrong disk, all information is gone, just to end up in nowhere street again as there is no rebuild button. Therefor I hoped finding someone who eventually would have adventured some proc and by sheer luck succeeded in doing so.

 

[house70]

Sorry, i feel your pain. I had my share of NAS troubles before, with a QNAP that was supposed to be top of the line. The mobo failed on it and the whole array was lost.
I decided to go with the basic RAID 1 inside a simple SYNOLOGY enclosure, still going strong.
in your case, if no one able to help with this particular model, I would recommend something similar. You will need to determine which HDD is bad by removing them and mounting each using an external USB enclosure. After that you could save the data and when you get the new NAS just transfer it on that.
Sorry, I have not used Iomega enclosures before and I could not tell you what steps to take to fix that thing; maybe it was designed to be non-serviceable in order to save them some money, who knows. It's low on Iomega's part not to provide any customer support for their hardware and from your description the NAS explorer is useless.
I have found this link, maybe helps:
http://blog.bruteforcetech.com/index.php/archives/329

 

[DaveAllen]

Thanx for your empathy, 'cause pain there is, just as indignation!! We won't sell a single Iomega screw again, let alone a NAS!! As for the proc explained in your reply and pdf doc: well yes, that's what we are doing right now. Useless to say that this takes a lot more intervention time than would be with decent material. Anyway, we thank you for your feedback: we'll have a go with the images... Have a nice day.

 

[house70]

Good luck with the project and don't get too down because of this, life's too short. every kick is the back is a step forward, I have learned plenty that way. At least you know which manufacturer to avoid from now on. Have a good weekend!

 

[paulkaufman]

I hoped finding someone who eventually would have adventured some proc and by sheer luck succeeded in doing so.

I had exactly the same problem with the same hardware and I got lucky with the tech support phone system.

The tech I spoke with told me to replace the drive and it will rebuild itself. Of course, he first told me that my warranty expired and I'd need to pay $50 for out of warranty support, but he did answer my questions anyway.

I opened the enclosure and unplugged first one drive and then the other to determine which still had usable data on it. I then installed the new blank drive and closed everything up and it worked fine. I don't know for certain that the data was copied onto the new hard drive but the led lights on the front stopped blinking after that, so I assume it did. You might want to see this web page for LED codes.

https://iomega-na-en.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/19852/kw/red%20blue%20led%20flash

Now I think I lost the motherboard in it so I'll need to take both drives out and find out if I lost data.

 

[daver2u]

Pull both drives out put them in a computer and use the computer to check the disk health and rebuild the array? It Consultant huh?

 

[Guest]

Just a question about replacement disk, do I need to put exactly the same rand, same model ...
Or can I put somethinf else, ex: wd green 2tb instead of seagate 2tb ...

 

[sysor1001]

Just a warning regarding this device. I had a 4 disk array (4 1TB drives), in what I assume was a raid 5 (in the iomega setup you choose Mirror or Parity, Parity was chosen so I assume its raid 5 because its a 4 disk set.).

Disk 3 on the raid went down. I replaced the disk, the dashboard identified the new "empty" hard drive. It asked me if I would like to configure the new drive into the raid. I said yes. It wiped EVERY SINGLE Drive, and I lost 2-3 years worth of backups that I cannot recover.

I still have the original disk 3 that was dying, it will boot, but usually dies after 4-5 hours, I'm trying to figure out a way to rebuild the entire raid from a single disk that is on its way out the door. Because although it held a bunch of backups, it also housed a very important virtual server (I did not build this environment), which has no backup, and no one knows how the server was configured.

So if anyone has any suggestions for me, i'm pretty sure you can't rebuild a 4 disk raid 5 if 3 disks go down. I'm probably screwed lol.

 

[Chrisjan Matser]

This is well too late for the original poster, but for future readers... the instructions are here:
http://blog.bruteforcetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/Replacing_the_StorCenter_ix2_Hard_Drive.pdf

I did this and it worked perfectly.

To the person trying to rebuild a 4 disk array from a single drive. That most likely will not work. In a typical 4 disk RAID, the array can survive 1 drive failure. What you are trying to do is effectively restore from a 3 drive failure. Not happening, sorry!

 

[gikstar]

This is well too late for the original poster, but for future readers... the instructions are here:
http://blog.bruteforcetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/Replacing_the_StorCenter_ix2_Hard_Drive.pdf

I did this and it worked perfectly.

Well that shows how to open the case and replace the bad hard drive, but the main point of the post was to query how to 'rebuild the array'. There are no specific instructions on how to go about it in their manual. Maybe they leave that part out so you can pay them $50 for the help?
So, we still haven't an answer and I'm having the same problem at the moment with a client's StorCenter ix2. I don't have problems like this with the Netgear Pro NAS or the Qnap devices. Most of the under $1K NAS units aren't worth beans but it doesn't stop new clients from having bought them.

 

[Chrisjan Matser]

Well that shows how to open the case and replace the bad hard drive, but the main point of the post was to query how to 'rebuild the array'...

When I replaced the bad drive, the unit auto detected that a new drive was put in and rebuilt it automatically. I don't believe there is a command to rebuild the array manually. This is handled by the system as far as I know. If memory serves, the management web interface indicated that the array was rebuilding and I couldn't use the array until the process was complete. I left it alone and the next day it was ready and all my data was there.

Good luck on your unit.

 

[tmkn81]

Hi,
I just walked into the same issue as you. I have to redo a failed ix2-200 for a small municipality that is being used as a backup location. This is what I found and what you most likely need to do.

First a useful link:

The manual-
http://iomega.com/support/manuals/ix-series/221-0809/en/consolidated/main.html#ix2200

My thoughts-
The most likely reason you can't see anything useful in the Web UI/Storage manager is because you don't have the proper Administrator Credentials to make changes to the NAS. Note that not all Admin accounts are created equal
To get the proper credentials I had to reset the NAS completely. Here is how I did it.


STEP 1 -
BACK UP YOUR DATA

Do as others have suggested and power down the system. Pull both hard drives. test for the working drive and backup everything to another location. Then replace any bad drive/drives. Because of the importance of the information on the unit I'm working on, I replaced both drives with identical ones just as a best practice, as I have a feeling it was handled roughly while it was running (the bad drive sounded like it had a head failure). Once you have determined that you have two functioning drives reinstalled in the NAS proceed to step 2.

STEP 2 -

RESET THE NAS TO FACTORY DEFAULT
*** THIS WILL MOST LIKELY WIPE YOUR DATA***

For this process you will need the NAS plugged in.
NOTE: Do NOT plug in cat5 cable yet.

Use a paperclip to push in the small reset button on the back of the NAS for 15 seconds. It is located right above the USB port on the back of the unit. Make sure you feel the button click in and stay down for the duration( i had to do it a couple different times).

STEP 3 -
Download & Install the latest version of storage manager from Lenovo:

LenovoEMC Storage Manager Version 1.4.4.14439 -
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Iomega-Network-Storage-Knowledge/Released-LenovoEMC-Storage-Manager-Version-1-4-4-14439/ta-p/1264711

STEP 4 -

Once you have Storage manager up and running and the NAS reset you will need to plug in the Ethernet Cable between your NAS and Router/Computer. Wait until your NAS pops up in Storage Manager. Your NAS will have a name like STORAGE or a name previously given to it.
The NAS will also have an IP address assigned to it. Once it has an IP adress you can double click on the picture of your NAS (ix- series device) in Storage Manager and it will open the Web UI.

STEP 5 -

You will then need to set up the NAS as per the manual linked to above.

Hope this helps!

As a side note, if you are truly skilled and fearless here is a link to the latest firmware and instructions... Don't Chance it if you're afraid of Bricking your box.

StorCenter ix2-200 Firmware Version 2.1.42.18967: Read First-
https://lenovo-na-en.custhelp.com/app/cust_alp/p/1031,1071/search/1

 

[mdanowit]

I swapped out the bad hard drive with a comparably sized 1 TB drive. All I get is the power light flashing and the disk activity light flashing continuously. I hear a drive spinning but nothing else. If I remove the replaced drive, and leave only the good drive, the Iomega StorCenter comes up fine. And it doesn't matter what drive bay the old good drive is in - both work. It's just when the new replacement drive goes in does the system just spin and not initialize..

How do I install the second hard drive and get the system back up and running in RAID 1 mirror mode?

Note that I have tried to reset the unit multiple times.

 

[djcanfield]

Just as another data point I got an email from my ix2-2 last week while out of town saying that one of my drives may have failed.

"Storage is degraded and data protection is at risk. A drive may have either failed or been removed from your Iomega StorCenter ix2. Visit the Dashboard on the management interface for details. To prevent possible data loss, this issue should be repaired as soon as possible."

When I got to my office the power LED was flashing red, so I logged into the web interface as an admin to see what was happening. The image was similar to the one below, but the drive on the left was shaded red and had a red X. I pulled out the drive and re-seated it (with the power on) and after a pause, the power LED started flashing white and I got the picture shown below on the web interface. I am using RAID 1 (mirroring). The data has been available the whole time. I also got an email saying the drive was rebuilding.

"Data protection is being reconstructed. Data is available during this operation, however performance may be degraded."

 

[coro]

ir seems like MIRROR can be rebuild (or salvaged data) just fine, but I had a Raid5 (PARITY) and it went wrong way after replaced failed drive.
Array sent mail that drive 2 failed. Well, I suspect no troubles so purchased new, replaced drive 2 and storage, still working fine, said it will add it to an array. I said OK and it started. After 20 hours of work (4x2TB drives in it), unit said OK and sent a mail that verify is done.
Well, right in the same second it sent another email that there is a problem and data are lost.

And dashboard says simply two messages: data are lost, and " found 4 new drives with data that have to be wiped out, please confirm wipe".
So, be warned that Iomega does NOT work as expected with RAID5 - PARITY,
and make full BACKUP BEFORE REPLACING failed disc.
Shame on that crap.

 

[Smurphy203]

I have a P3-300 and we have had multiple Drive failures ((latest one was the final drive #6) , apparently the main issue was with the Seagate drives we purchased for the unit. these drives were on the supported drive list however the firmware on this drives was buggy and had issues when set in a RAID 5 array. one by one the drives would fail, Id RMA the drive with Seagate for the same exact drive make and model, but the Firmware provided on the drive was newer. this last drive that's failing now was the last of the old firmware drives left. Now that being said, I'm not saying this was all 100% Seagate's fault , Iomega placed these drives on their supported list (I was 100% careful they were on the list before the purchase), and their support (IOMEGA) really does stink.

the process for rebuilding the drive is to log in as full admin to the web console, go to the storage link, one drive will have been identified as needing to be overwritten. , I shut down the unit , pulled the faulty drive, replaced with the EXACT same make/model/size but the updated firmware (Iomega had very specific supported drives for the PX-300 unit), start the unit up and it will state that the new drive needs to be erased/rebuilt. (we have 13 TB worth of drives) so a few days later it was rebuilt. again to date after going through 5 of 6 drives the Seagate drives were the issue, none of the new drives have failed (yet????)