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Replace failed drives on Azure Stack HCI

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Applies to: Azure Stack HCI, versions 22H2 and 21H2; Windows Server 2022, Windows Server 2019

Azure Stack HCI works with direct-attached SATA, SAS, NVMe, and persistent memory drives that are physically attached to a single server. Storage Spaces Direct automatically retires and evacuates failed drives. When this happens, the drive status is Retired, and its storage capacity bar is empty.

If a drive fails, you need access to the physical server hardware to replace it.

Find the alert

When a drive fails, an alert appears in the upper Alerts area of the Windows Admin Center Dashboard.

  1. In Windows Admin Center, select the alert to see details, like the drive's physical location.
  2. To see more details, select Drives under Tools in the left pane to browse drives and see their status. On the Inventory tab, you can sort, group, and search across drives.
  3. If your hardware supports it, you can select Light On or Light Off to control the drive's indicator light.
  4. Physically remove the failed drive and insert its replacement.

Wait for the alert to clear

In Windows Admin Center, under the Drives > Inventory tab, the new drive will appear. In time, the alert clears, volumes repair back to OK status, and storage rebalances onto the new drive automatically.

Troubleshooting

If the new drive is not added to the pool, it may be because AutoPool is disabled. To determine this, run the following PowerShell command as administrator:

Get-StorageSubsystem Cluster* | Get-StorageHealthSetting | select "System.Storage.PhysicalDisk.AutoPool.Enabled"

If the value is True, AutoPool is enabled. If the value is False, AutoPool is disabled. You have two options to resolve this issue:

Option A

This option leaves AutoPool disabled and manually adds the disk(s) to the storage pool. Run the following series of PowerShell commands as administrator:

Run the following and verify the new physical disk is listed with OperationalStatus is OK, and HealthStatus is Healthy.

Get-PhysicalDisk -CanPool $true

Next, run the following command and make a note of the FriendlyName of the storage pool that you want to add the disk to. If this is a stretched cluster, you should see more than one pool name:

Get-StoragePool -IsPrimordial $False

Next, run the following command:

$disks = Get-PhysicalDisk -CanPool $true

Lastly, run the following command:

Add-PhysicalDisk -StoragePoolFriendlyName "FriendlyName_from_step2" -PhysicalDisks $disks

Option B

This option enables AutoPool and lets the Health service add the disk to the pool. Run the following PowerShell command as administrator:

Get-StorageSubsystem Cluster* | Set-StorageHealthSetting -Name "System.Storage.PhysicalDisk.AutoPool.Enabled" -Value True

Next steps