In the unexpected event of an SSD failure, or an SSD reaching the end of its service life, it should be replaced so that Pro Data can restore maximum RAID parity protection to your storage. When your Pro Data is registered with an iodyne Cloud account, spare SSDs will be automatically mailed to you.
But, if you re-use an existing SSD as a replacement spare, and that SSD has been previously formatted for use in another device or computer, it's referred to as an orphan SSD: it will need to be erased and reformatted before it can be reused by Pro Data.
When you insert any SSD into Pro Data, the device firmware checks the contents of the SSD to determine if the SSD is an uninitialized fresh spare, or contains data from another Pro Data device, or data from another use of the SSD in another computer. If the SSD is not a fresh spare, it is left untouched, and marked as an orphan, until you explicitly request that it be erased.
To erase orphan SSDs that are detected in Pro Data, use the following steps. Note: This action cannot be undone, so please verify that any data on the replacement SSD has been backed up or can be safely erased before proceeding.
- Launch iodyne Utility from your Applications folder or the menu bar icon
- Locate the device in the utility's Devices menu and select Erase Orphan SSDs… from its submenu
Selecting Erase Orphan SSDs… from the device submenu in iodyne Utility - Confirm you want to erase orphan SSDs when prompted. If more than one orphan SSD is discovered, Pro Data will erase them in order.
- Once the SSDs are erased and reformatted, they will appear with green circle icons on the Status tab of the utility, and be available for use.
The iodyne utility Status tab shows the replacement SSD has been incorporated into Pro Data storage