New & empty RAID5 array enters Rebuilding state ?

Question

Hello,

I've just created a new RAID5 volume (4x8TB), and without having anything copied over to it, it's entered a Rebuilding stage (Resyncing under Disk Management). The Drives are good (no errors). Is this to be expected ?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Hi EnglishmanInJapan

Yes, it is expected behavior for a RAID 5 volume on Windows Server 2016 to enter a rebuilding or resyncing stage after creating the volume, even if there is no data copied to it yet. This is because RAID 5 utilizes parity information to provide fault tolerance.

During the creation of a RAID 5 volume, the system needs to calculate and distribute parity information across the drives. This process is known as initialization or resyncing. The purpose of resyncing is to ensure that the parity information is correctly distributed and the RAID array is in a consistent state.

The duration of the resyncing process depends on various factors, including the size of the drives, the amount of data on the array, and the system's performance. It can take a significant amount of time to complete, especially with larger drives.

During the resyncing process, the RAID array may experience reduced performance as system resources are utilized for the calculation and distribution of parity information. It is normal for the array to be in a degraded state during this period.

It's important to allow the resyncing process to complete before using the RAID 5 volume. Interrupting or stopping the process prematurely can result in data integrity issues or an unstable RAID array.

You can monitor the progress of the resyncing process through the Disk Management console or using appropriate RAID management tools provided by the RAID controller or manufacturer.