A systems administrator is performing a routine check on a server and observes a blinking amber LED on a drive in a RAID 5 array. The server's management log reports a "predictive failure" for that specific drive. The operating system is still functional, and data remains accessible. What is the MOST appropriate immediate action for the administrator to take?
Force the drive offline in the RAID utility and then force it back online to initiate a rebuild.
Reboot the server to allow the RAID controller to re-initialize the drive.
Verify that recent backups are valid and schedule a maintenance window to replace the drive.
Immediately hot-swap the drive with a known good spare.
The correct action is to verify that recent backups are valid and then schedule a maintenance window to replace the drive. A 'predictive failure' alert, often from S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology), indicates that a drive has exceeded certain error thresholds and is likely to fail soon. Since the drive has not yet failed and the array is operational, the situation does not require an emergency response but does need proactive resolution. The best practice is to first ensure data is safe by verifying backups before manipulating a degraded array. Then, schedule the replacement according to change management procedures to minimize business impact.
Immediately hot-swapping the drive is incorrect because it is a reactive step taken without proper planning. The first steps should always involve risk mitigation, like verifying backups, and following protocol, like scheduling maintenance.
Rebooting the server is incorrect because a predictive failure is a hardware warning about physical degradation, which a system restart cannot fix.
Forcing the drive offline and online to trigger a rebuild is a risky and inappropriate action. This puts unnecessary stress on the entire array and does not address the root cause, which is the failing physical drive. This action increases the risk of a second drive failure during the rebuild, which would lead to data loss in a RAID 5 array.