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Systems & Data Center · Foundational

Hot Spare

An idle standby drive in a storage array that automatically replaces a failed member and triggers a rebuild.

Definition

Hot spares can be dedicated to one array or global to all arrays on a controller. They shorten the window of reduced redundancy by starting rebuilds immediately.

Example

When a RAID 5 member fails at 2 a.m., the global hot spare starts rebuilding without operator action.

Exam tip

A hot spare is installed and powered; a cold spare sits on a shelf. Neither adds fault tolerance until a rebuild completes.

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