" Is it possible for the disk shelf to completely fail?

"

This is EXTREMELY far fetced...... but even if it somehow did, yoiu're data is still valid. In a large TB area, using multiple shelves, select a drive from each shelf as part of the RAID group... basically, your RAID groups are 'vertical'... and this eliminates single points of failure..

Not as farfetched as you might think. It happened to us within the past couple years. I don't remember the details, but we had to bypass the failed shelf to even get the filer back up.

_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ Don Cunningham - UNIX SysAdmin _/ Progress Software Corp. _/ _/ don.cunningham@progress.com _/ 14 Oak Park _/ _/ (781)280-4252 _/ Bedford, MA 01730-1485 _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ "Wherever beer is brewed, all is well - whenever beer is _/ _/ drunk, life is good." -Czech proverb _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/