chdrive

Use the chdrive command to change the drive properties.

Syntax

 chdrive  {  -use  [ { unused | candidate | spare | failed } ] [ -allowdegraded ] |  -task  { format | certify | recover } }  drive_id 

Parameters

-useunused | candidate | spare | failed
Describes the role of the drive:
  • unused indicates the drive is not in use and will not be used as a spare
  • candidate indicates the drive is available for use in an array
  • spare indicates the drive can be used as a hot-spare drive if required
  • failed indicates the drive has failed.
Note: To create member drives, add the drives to (new) arrays using the mkarray command.

If a drive fails for a distributed array, the array remains associated with the failed drive while it is in the failed state.

-allowdegraded
(Optional) Permits permission for a change of drive use to continue, even if a hotspare drive is not available for the array that the drive is a member of. You cannot specify -allowdegraded and -task together.
Important: Using -allowdegraded is not recommended.
-taskformat | certify | recover
Causes the drive to perform a task:
  • format indicates a drive will be formatted for use in an array; only permitted when drive is a candidate or has failed validation.
  • certify indicates the drive will be analyzed to verify the integrity of the data it contains; permitted for any drive that is a member.
  • recover recovers an offline flash drive without losing data; permitted when the drive is offline because a build is required, or when the drive has failed validation.
drive_id
The identity of the drive.

Description

Use this command to change the drive role, or to start long running drive tasks.

You can use lsdriveprogress to display progress (percentage) and estimated completion time of ongoing drive tasks.

When a drive associated with a distributed array is changed from member to failed, if the distributed array does not have available rebuild space then it is degraded. If -allowdegraded is not specified the command fails because of insufficient rebuild areas . If the -allowdegraded parameter is specified the command succeeds and the array no longer uses the drive for I/O operations. If a drive is changed from failed to another configuration the distributed array is forgets about the drive and creates a missing member that belongs in the member table. Use the charraymember command to replace the missing member.

An invocation example

chdrive -use spare 1

The resulting output:

No feedback

An invocation example to certify drive 23

chdrive -task certify 23

The resulting output:

No feedback