Disk Error - The physical element is failing

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

vSphere ESXi reports physical disk errors in host client or vCenter. 

Environment

vSphere ESXi 6.0.x

vSphere ESXi 7.0.x

vSphere ESXi 8.0.x

Cause

1. Physical hard drive failure
2. Smart array controller failure 
3. HDD backplane failure 
4. HDD firmware update gone bad and more reasons depending on the type of server hardware in use. 

Resolution

vSphere ESXi doesn't provide more information than the sensors reporting drive failure or messages that can be found in the hostd and VMkernel logs. You have to login to Cisco Integrated Management Controller (CIMC), iDRAC or Integrated Lights-Out (iLO) or other server hardware management software available for your servers and check the status of the physical drive. 

If your server manufacturer doesn't have these utilities, please check the server physically and contact them to find out alternative ways of running hardware diagnostics & share a report with them for further analysis.