Mac Pro RAID drive 4 disappears

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Level 1

14 points

Mac Pro RAID drive 4 disappears

I have a Mac Pro RAID card in my Mid-2010 Mac Pro. It's worked flawlessly for years, but recently I had a serious slowdown problem and drives were disappearing, so I bit the bullet, bought four new drives, replaced them all, rebuilt the RAID and restored from backup. This worked fine for about 3 days, then I needed to reboot, and when the computer came back up from the reboot, the drive in Bay 4 was gone. I could not see it in any utility. I tried powering down and reseating it repeatedly but no matter what I did the computer could not see it. Figuring it had to be a fluke failure of a new drive, I obtained a spare and replaced it. The computer came up and recognized the new drive, so I added it to the RAID and waited the nearly WEEK it takes to rebuild, which finished two days ago, then today I need to reboot, and when the computer came back up, the drive in Bay 4 is gone AGAIN.

This RAID card has a relatively new battery that tests good. It is operating fine other than this bizarre issue. Any ideas?

Thanks,

H.

Mac Pro (Mid 2010), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), 16G RAM, Mac Pro RAID card in 0+1

Posted on Aug 10, 2015 3:56 PM

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Answer 1

hoppah Author

Level 1

14 points

Sep 30, 2015 12:29 PM in response to hoppah

This behavior has continued. Drive 4 vanishes after reboots, reappears about half an hour later, then has to rebuild, which takes about a week. Next reboot, repeat. Help!

H.

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Answer 2

hoppah Author

Level 1

14 points

Oct 2, 2015 10:43 AM in response to hoppah

Log info from RAID card. Note the repeated pattern - each reboot results in a missing drive which then reappears, is added back into RAID, then takes a week to rebuild.

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Answer 3

hoppah Author

Level 1

14 points

Nov 28, 2015 8:54 AM in response to hoppah

Am I putting this query in the wrong place? This issue hasn't changed - if I do a power-down of the system, when it comes back up, Drive #4 is "roaming" and is marked as belonging to a different RAID set. I have to mark it as a global spare and wait four or more days for a rebuild. If I just do a restart, this does not happen. It's 100% consistent. I note others have had this issue:

Re: RAID won't rebuild

but I don't see a solution for it, only the workaround of remarking the drive and allowing the rebuild, every time the system has been powered down.

Help?

Thanks,

H.

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Answer 4

Nov 28, 2015 9:26 AM in response to hoppah

Perhaps you should stop powering down.

No, that is a serious suggestion! if that is the event that wrecks your RAID, stop doing it and let the system sleep all night instead.

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Answer 5

hoppah Author

Level 1

14 points

Nov 29, 2015 2:56 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I'm looking for a fix, not a workaround. I never shut down my computers unless I have to. But every once in a while I have to. Your suggestion is like telling someone with a bad car battery to just never shut their engine off.

H.

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Answer 6

sasch

Level 1

8 points

Nov 17, 2017 7:13 AM in response to hoppah

same issue... no idea (Mac Pro 5.1 / Mac OS 10.13.1)

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