Volume status descriptions
Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2
Volume status descriptions
In Disk Management, one of the following volume status descriptions will always appear in the graphical view of the volume and in the Status column of the volume in list view.
Failed
Failed Redundancy
Formatting
Healthy
Regenerating
Resynching
Unknown
Failed
The Failed status occurs when a basic or dynamic volume cannot be started automatically, or the disk is damaged. This status also occurs after importing a volume with Data Incomplete status. An error icon appears on the failed volume. Unless the disk or file system can be repaired, the Failed status indicates data loss.
If the volume is a basic volume, make sure that the underlying physical disk is turned on, plugged in, and attached to the computer. No other user action is possible for basic volumes.
If the volume is a dynamic volume, make sure the underlying dynamic disks are online. If the disks are not online, you should reactivate them. If this succeeds, the volume automatically restarts and returns to the Healthy status. For instructions describing how to bring a disk online, see Reactivate a missing or offline dynamic disk.
If the underlying dynamic disk returns to the Online status, but the dynamic volume does not return to the Healthy status, you can reactivate the volume manually. For instructions describing how to reactivate a volume, see Reactivate a dynamic volume.
If the volume is a mirrored or RAID-5 volume with old data, bringing the underlying disk online automatically reactivates the volume. If the disks that contain current data are disconnected, you should bring those disks online first (to allow the data to become synchronized). Otherwise, reactivate the mirrored or RAID-5 volume manually, and then run Chkdsk.exe.
For instructions describing how to reactivate a volume, see Reactivate a dynamic volume. To run Chkdsk.exe, click Start, click Run, type chkdsk, and then click OK.
For instructions describing how to fix volumes with Failed status, see Troubleshooting Disk Management.
Failed Redundancy
The Failed Redundancy status occurs when the data on a mirrored or RAID-5 volume is no longer fault tolerant because one of the underlying disks is not online. A warning icon appears on the volume with failed redundancy.
Volumes with the Failed Redundancy status often display an associated substatus (in parentheses). A volume may only display one substatus at a time. The substatus is displayed according to the order in which they appear in the table below. For example, if you have only one volume that serves as the boot volume, system volume, active volume, page file, and crash dump, its status is displayed as Failed Redundancy (System). However, if an error occurs on a mirrored or RAID-5 volume, the (At Risk) substatus takes precedence.
| Failed Redundancy (substatuses) | Description |
|---|---|
System |
Indicates that the volume is the system volume. |
Boot |
Indicates that the volume is the boot volume. |
Page File |
Indicates that the volume holds the paging file. For more information about the paging file, see System Properties overview. |
Crash Dump |
Indicates that the volume holds the crash dump, also known as a memory dump. The memory dump is used to record the contents of the system memory when Windows XP Professional or Windows Server 2003 operating systems stop unexpectedly. For more information about the different types of memory dumps available, see Specify what happens when the system stops unexpectedly. |
At Risk |
Indicates that the data on a mirrored or RAID-5 volume is no longer fault tolerant because one of the disks has failed and I/O errors have been detected on the remaining dynamic disks. If an I/O error is detected on any part of a disk, a warning icon appears on all dynamic volumes on the disk. Dynamic volumes that are not fault tolerant display the Healthy (At Risk) status. When the volume status is Failed Redundancy (At Risk), the underlying disk's status is usually Online (Errors). You should reactivate the disk to return it to Online status, and then the volume status should change to Failed Redundancy. |
You can continue to access the volume using the remaining online disks, but if another disk that contains the volume fails, you will lose the volume and its data. To avoid such loss, you should attempt to repair the volume as soon as possible:
If an underlying disk is not online, reactivate the disk (right-click the disk and then click Reactivate Disk). If disk reactivation succeeds, the volume automatically repairs itself and returns to the Healthy status. A mirrored volume repairs itself by resynchronizing the data in its mirrors. A RAID-5 volume repairs itself by regenerating its parity and data.
If the disk returns to the Online status, but the volume does not return to the Healthy status, you can reactivate the volume manually (right-click the volume and then click Reactivate Volume).
If the disk does not return to the Online status and the volume does not return to the Healthy status, there may be something wrong with the disk. You should replace the failed mirror or RAID-5 disk region. To replace the failed mirror in a mirrored volume, right-click the failed mirror and then click Remove Mirror, and then right-click the other volume and click Add Mirror to create a new mirror on another disk. To replace the failed disk region in a RAID-5 volume, right-click the RAID-5 volume and then click Repair Volume.
For more information about how to fix mirrored or RAID-5 volumes with Failed Redundancy status, see Troubleshooting Disk Management.
Formatting
The Formatting status is a temporary status that occurs only while a volume is being formatted with a file system. As the volume is being formatted, the amount of the volume formatted is shown as a percentage. When formatting is complete, the volume status changes to Healthy.
Healthy
The Healthy status is the normal volume status on both basic and dynamic volumes when the volume is accessible and has no known problems. No user action is required.
Volumes with the Healthy status often display an associated substatus (in parentheses). A volume can display only one substatus at a time. The substatus is displayed according to the order in which they appear in the table below. For example, if you have only one volume which serves as the boot volume, system volume, active volume, page file, and crash dump, its status is displayed as Healthy (System). However, if an error occurs on a dynamic volume, the (At Risk) substatus takes precedence.
| Healthy (substatuses) | Description |
|---|---|
System |
Indicates that the volume is the system volume. |
Boot |
Indicates that the volume is the boot volume. |
Page File |
Indicates that the volume holds the paging file. For more information about the paging file, see System Properties overview. |
Active |
Indicates that the volume is an active volume on a basic disk. For more information about making a volume the active volume, see Mark a partition as active (32-bit only). |
Crash Dump |
Indicates that the volume holds the crash dump, also known as a memory dump. The memory dump is used to record the contents of the system memory when Windows XP Professional or Windows Server 2003 operating systems stop unexpectedly. For more information about the different types of memory dumps available, see Specify what happens when the system stops unexpectedly. |
Hibernation Partition |
Indicates that the volume is an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) hibernation partition, which is used on some laptops to save the current state of the system during hibernation. |
GPT protective Partition |
Indicates that the volume is a GUID partition table (GPT) disk. The GPT protective partition contains the protective MBR to prevent disk utilities that are not compatible with GPT disks from accidentally destroying GPT partitions. |
EFI System Partition |
Indicates that the volume is the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) system partition on a GPT disk. |
EISA Configuration |
Indicates that the volume is an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partition. |
Unknown Partition |
Indicates that the partition is not recognized. Partitions on master boot record (MBR) or GUID partition table (GPT) disks with Healthy (Unknown Partition) status might be an unrecognized original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partition, or non-Windows operating system partition. You cannot format, assign drive letters or mount points to, or access data on partitions with Healthy (Unknown Partition) status. You can, however, delete these partitions using Disk Management or the DiskPart command. For instructions describing how to delete partitions, see Delete a partition or logical drive. |
At Risk |
Indicates that the dynamic volume is currently accessible, but I/O errors have been detected on the underlying dynamic disk. If an I/O error is detected on any part of a dynamic disk, all volumes on the disk display the Healthy (At Risk) status and a warning icon appears on the volume. When the volume status is Healthy (At Risk), an underlying disk's status is usually Online (Errors). You should reactivate the underlying disk to return it to Online status, and then the volume should return to the Healthy status. If the Healthy (At Risk) status persists, the disk might be failing. Back up the data and replace the disk as soon as possible. For instructions describing how to fix volumes with Healthy (At Risk) status, see Troubleshooting Disk Management. |
Regenerating
The Regenerating status occurs when a missing disk in a RAID-5 volume is reactivated, when an offline disk in a RAID-5 volume is reactivated, when a failed RAID-5 volume is reactivated, when disks in a RAID-5 volume are imported, and when data and parity are being regenerated for a RAID-5 volume. No user action is required. When regeneration is complete, the volume's status returns to Healthy. You can access a RAID-5 volume while data and parity regeneration is in progress.
Resynching
The Resynching status occurs when creating a mirror or restarting a computer with a mirrored volume, when an offline disk in a mirrored volume is reactivated, when disks in a mirrored volume are imported, and when a mirrored volume is being resynchronized so that both mirrors contain identical data. No user action is required. When resynchronization is complete, the mirrored volume's status returns to Healthy. Resynchronization might take some time, depending on the size of the mirrored volume. Although you can access a mirrored volume while resynchronization is in progress, you should avoid making configuration changes (such as breaking a mirror) during resynchronization.
Volumes with the Resynching status often display an associated substatus (in parentheses). The table below lists the possible substatuses displayed by volumes with Resynching status:
| Resynching (substatuses) | Description |
|---|---|
System |
Indicates that the volume is the system volume. |
Boot |
Indicates that the volume is the boot volume. |
Page File |
Indicates that the volume holds the paging file. For more information about the paging file, see System Properties overview. |
Crash Dump |
Indicates that the volume holds the crash dump, also known as a memory dump. The memory dump is used to record the contents of the system memory when Windows XP Professional or Windows Server 2003 operating systems stop unexpectedly. For more information about the different types of memory dumps available, see Specify what happens when the system stops unexpectedly. |
Unknown
The Unknown status occurs when the boot sector for the volume is corrupted (possibly due to a virus) and you can no longer access data on the volume.
For instructions describing how to fix volumes with Unknown status, see Troubleshooting Disk Management.
When importing disks, all volumes on those disks display the OK condition in the Foreign Disk Volumes dialog box unless there are problems with the volumes. When importing mirrored or RAID-5 volumes, these problems might be Data Incomplete, Data Not Redundant, or Stale Data.
Data Incomplete
The Data Incomplete status is displayed in the Foreign Disk Volumes dialog box, and occurs when data spans multiple disks, but not all of the disks were moved. Data on this volume will be destroyed unless you move the remaining disks that contain this volume, and then import all of the disks together. You cannot import the missing disks at a later time to restore the data.
For instructions describing how to fix volumes with Data Incomplete status, see Troubleshooting Disk Management.
Data Not Redundant
The Data Not Redundant status is displayed in the Foreign Disk Volumes dialog box when you import all but one of the disks in a mirrored or RAID-5 volume. In Disk Management, the imported half of the mirrored volume receives Failed Redundancy status, while the disk that holds the half of the mirror that was not imported receives Missing status. RAID-5 volumes receive Failed Redundancy status.
To prevent the Data Not Redundant status from occurring, connect all disks that belong to the mirrored or RAID-5 volume to the computer at the same time, and then import all of the disks together. For mirrored volumes, you can import the Missing disk at a later time to restore redundancy.
For instructions describing how to fix volumes with Data Not Redundant status, see Troubleshooting Disk Management.
Stale Data
The Stale Data status is displayed in the Foreign Disk Volumes dialog box, and occurs when a mirrored or RAID-5 volume has stale mirror information, stale parity information, or I/O errors.
For instructions describing how to fix mirrored or RAID-5 volumes with Stale Data status, see Troubleshooting Disk Management.