How to erase vSAN disk?

[ssSFrankSss]

Hi,

First of all I would like to mention that I have searched the previous 2 days like almost all of the solutions I could find in google but I could not find any solution. I hope I will find here. I do not want to loose my ssd!!

The story is that this ssd that I want to erase and reuse it. It was pulled from an older vSAN for a reason I can not remember it was in error state then.

So I am trying to erase from vSphere no luck I have attached a picture. I have connected with putty, trying with the partedUtil - no lack. It seems that the ssd is being configured as read only. I do not know how to change it. The vSAN that was mounted before does not exist now.

Ι have tried also with GParted, parted magic, I have tried also even by trying to configure it to raid 1 then HBA (Raid 0), again nothing.

Any recommendations, you will save me!

Best Regards,
Frank

[daphnissov]

If you're trying all these external utilities and it's still not erasing, then you have a bad drive. I've seen this before with other flash media and there's not much you can do other than to replace it. This may explain why when it was pulled from an older vSAN that it was in an "error state" as you say.

[ssSFrankSss]

I hope that we can find a solution. It is readable but I can not erase it. I do not see any errors anywhere. This SSD costs like 2k $ I hope it is not the case you are mentioning

This is a screenshot from vSphere now and the error it states.

[GreatWhiteTec]

Before you can use PartedUtil you need to unload the vSAN VMkernel modules.

See Cormac's blog for more info VSAN Part 16 - Reclaiming disks for other uses - CormacHogan.com

[ssSFrankSss]

Hi, thank you for the answer there are no vSAN VMkernel modules, as this SSD has been added to new vSphere environment. Anyway according to this esxli info what do you recommend to type?

Thanks a million,

Frank

[daphnissov · Accepted solution]

If this SSD is connected to a host which is not a member of a vSAN cluster, then try and use the partedUtil commands displayed in the article linked by GreatWhiteTec​. If those steps don't work and neither do the other offline tools you mentioned, then most likely your SSD is damaged and needs to be replaced. It's probably a good time to check and see if it's still under warranty where you can get it replaced.

[GreatWhiteTec]

Try this:

esxcli vsan storage remove -d naa.5000c5003015fc7b

[ssSFrankSss]

OK, I believe that would be a nice solution if the older - vSAN - vSphere environment - host was existing. But no they do not exist now.

So the answers returns that this SSD is not a part of this HOST, and it is not since it is in a new environment. Or I have missed something?

[TheBobkin]

Hello Frank,

What kind of controller is this attached to?

Try this:

# dd if=/dev/zero of=/vmfs/devices/disks/<naa.###> bs=1M count=50 conv=notrunc

# partedUtil mklabel /vmfs/devices/disks/<naa.###> msdos

If this doesn't work and rebooting the host is not a problem then boot it with vSAN modules disabled (yes, yes I read where you said above that this was a non-vSAN environment but if so there is no harm in trying):

Press Shift+O before it starts loading the modules (the screen after hardware boot portion completes and you can see 'Shift+R' to rollback on screen (and Shift+O depending on build version))

After the boot UUID string append a space and then jumpstart.disable=plog,lsom,vsan,cmmds,virsto

Proceed to wipe the device using the commands above.

If this doesn't work then try mounting this to something else (e.g a Linux box) and performing similar.

If no joy...maybe it is physically broken, maybe try to find out its history (and warranty).

Bob

[ssSFrankSss]

Currently: Dell H730p

I will go through your recommendations now...

[ssSFrankSss]

As I stated in my first message this SSD is appearing as read-only. And I do not know how to change this. So your first recommendation returned the result that you see on the image. I am going now on your second recommendation.

[TheBobkin]

Hello Frank,

"trying to configure it to raid 1 then HBA (Raid 0)"

H730 are pass-through only (for vSAN anyway) so these should not have any RAID configured on them and the controller mode should also be set to pass-through (yes I know - no vSAN here but humour me :smileygrin: ).

Additionally these controllers have a deeply troubled past and thus you should ensure you are using a stable and compatible driver+firmware combination.

Bob

[ssSFrankSss]

:smileygrin: I tried to change the raid in order for the controller to erase the data on Seagate. But this did not work. Also unfortunately same error appears on second solution you proposed. It is stated that this disk is read only. I do not want to give 2.4k $ right now pff. As long as I am going to make this ssd work. This will be my next step to check firmware+driver on H730p....

[ssSFrankSss]

I think I am going to install windows on my server only for this: Read Only Hard Drive FIX - Windows 7 - YouTube   :smileysilly:

[ssSFrankSss]

Unfortunately you were right.... I tried with windows, I also tried with some other extreme linux code. I could not get access to the driver. So I will check with warranty IFF I can do something, but I will have to find the initial owner and this ssd was pulled from a Xyratex who has now been acquired from Cray...

[dpablo]

I put the pci ssd or the Controller as sharepoint pci

reboot host

add pci DEVICES to windows vm

format in Disk administrator, the remove the partition

u sharepoint the Pci ssd

now you can use for vsan or vms datastore

this always work for me