Replacing a failed drive in a NAS or server: vendor rules, repair and safe disposal
For server, NAS and field technicians who can already read disk health, find the right physical drive and watch a rebuild ('Storage systems and disk carriers' and 'Handling disk failures'), and now carry out replacements on real kit. You'll choose a replacement that meets the vendor's capacity, type and compatibility rules, confirm hot-swap support and server bay rules before removing anything, decide between a manual repair, a hot spare and a proactive drive replacement, follow a repair to a healthy status (including slow or blocked repairs), and protect the data on the drive you take out. Examples follow Synology DSM 7 and Lenovo ThinkSystem documentation; other makers use similar ideas with different screens, so always open your model's manual. Software RAID (mdadm, Storage Spaces) is covered in 'Degraded arrays and rebuilds'. Ends with a supervisor-graded replacement.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Length
- About 105 minutes
- Contents
- 5 lessons · final exam
- Status
- Published · updated 10 Oct 2026
Skills you'll practise
- Choose a replacement drive that meets the vendor's compatibility, type and capacity rules for the storage pool
- Identify the correct drive and confirm the system supports hot-swapping before removing anything
- Choose between repairing a degraded pool, relying on a hot spare and proactively replacing a drive still in the pool
- Monitor the repair to a healthy status and decide what to do when it runs slowly or can't start
- Handle the removed drive and record the replacement so the data on it stays protected
Course outline
- 1.Choose a replacement drive that meets the vendor's rulesLesson · 22 min
- 2.Identify the correct drive and confirm hot-swap supportLesson · 20 min
- 3.Choose between repair, a hot spare and a proactive replacementLesson · 20 min
- 4.Monitor the repair to a healthy statusLesson · 15 min
- 5.Handle the removed drive and record the replacementLesson · 13 min
- 6.Replacing a failed drive in a NAS or server: vendor rules, repair and safe disposal: knowledge checkKnowledge check · 16 questions
- 7.Replacing a failed drive in a NAS or server: vendor rules, repair and safe disposal: practical exerciseKnowledge check · 1 question
- 8.Final exam10 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out
Sources it draws on
The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.
- Synology DSM 7 help: Repair a Storage Pool (drive requirements, Fast Repair, Auto Repair, crashed pools)
- Synology DSM 7 help: Replace a Drive
- Synology DSM 7 help: Hot Spare
- Synology DSM 7 help: HDD/SSD (drive status, Locate Drive, deactivation, Secure Erase)
- Synology DSM 7 help: Adjust the RAID Resync Speed Limits
- Synology Knowledge Center: Why does it take a long time to repair a storage pool?
- Synology Knowledge Center: The 'Repair' option cannot be selected. What can I do?
- Lenovo ThinkSystem SR650 V3: Hot-swap drive replacement
- Lenovo ThinkSystem SR650 V3: Remove a hot-swap drive
- Lenovo ThinkSystem SR650 V3: Install a hot-swap drive
- Lenovo ThinkSystem SR650 V3: Drive LEDs
- Lenovo ThinkSystem SR650 V3: Installation Guidelines (hot-swap markings, static, backups)
- NIST SP 800-88 Rev. 2, Guidelines for Media Sanitization (September 2025)
See it with your own jobs and topics
Tell us about your team and we'll walk you through setup, from choosing jobs to your first skills check.