VMFS Datastore Not Consumed and Missing Metadata Following ESXi Reinstallation

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

After Double fault on a RAID 5 volume where ESXi and a local VMFS datastore resided, the existing VMFS datastore on Partition 8 is no longer visible after using the preserve volumes option while reinstalling ESXi.

• ESXI was reinstalled due to a multiple disk fault (RAID-5) supporting both ESXi and a local VMFS datastore. 
  
  
• Hosts are standalone and using local RAID-5 disks.

Environment

ESXI (all versions)

Cause

Double fault on a RAID-5 volume will lead to data loss even If the backing volume could be rebuilt.

Resolution

If you encounter this issue, open a case with VMware by Broadcom Support for further investigation.

Additional Information

For more information on how RAID Works and the amount of failures each RAID type can handle, refer to the following article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID