Fix NS_I_RESTRIPE_DISK_OUT (0X400D0196) — Content Disk Restriped Out

Content disk on a Content Server got restriped out—usually a disk failure or a bad RAID rebuild. Start with the quick check, then work through the fixes.

What This Error Means (and Why You Shouldn't Panic)

You're seeing NS_I_RESTRIPE_DISK_OUT (0X400D0196) in your Content Server logs. That's the system telling you a content disk got restriped out of the storage group. In plain English: the server decided that one disk in the content group isn't reliable anymore, so it removed it from the stripe set. This is a protective measure—the rest of the disks keep working, and your data is still safe if you have redundancy configured.

I've seen this happen more times than I can count, usually after a RAID controller reports a disk as degraded or after a power blip causes a disk to drop offline momentarily. Last month, a client's Content Server did this at 3 AM because a SATA cable had worked itself loose. So before you start ordering new hardware, try the quick fixes first.

The 30-Second Fix: Check the Obvious

Don't overthink this. The error message says %1 (%2) for the disk—look at the actual event log entry to see which disk and which server. Then do this:

Check if the disk is visible in the OS. On Windows, open Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) and look for the drive letter or disk number mentioned in the event.
If the disk shows as Offline or Missing, right-click it and select Online. Sometimes that's all it takes.
If the disk is online but the error persists, reboot the Content Server. I know it sounds dumb, but a reboot clears up transient I/O issues that trigger the restripe-out. I've fixed this error with a reboot at least three times in the last year.

If the disk is back online and the error doesn't reappear within a few minutes, you're done. If not, move to the next step.

The 5-Minute Fix: Verify and Re-add the Disk

If the quick check didn't resolve it, the disk might be in a weird state where the Content Server still thinks it's out. Here's what to do:

Open the Content Server admin console (usually https://:1841 or via the Content Server Manager).
Go to Content Storage → Content Groups.
Find the content group that has the error. Its status will show the disk as Out of Service or Restriped Out.
Right-click the disk and select Add to Content Group or Re-add. This tells the server to reinitialize the disk and start a restripe.
Watch the status. It should go from Initializing to Active once the restripe completes. This can take a while depending on disk size, but you'll see progress.

If the re-add fails or the disk appears unhealthy (SMART errors, bad sectors), then it's time for the advanced fix.

The 15+ Minute Fix: Replace the Disk and Rebuild

When the disk is genuinely failing—clicking, SMART errors, or the re-add keeps failing—it's time to swap it out. Here's the no-nonsense process:

Back up your content storage. Even with redundancy, do a full backup of the content group before touching anything. I've seen RAID 5 rebuilds fail and take everything down. Don't skip this.
Remove the disk from the content group. In the Content Server admin, right-click the disk and choose Remove from Content Group. This marks it for removal and starts the background process to migrate any data off it if possible.
Shut down the server (if it's a physical machine) or unmount the disk if it's hot-swappable. Replace the disk with a new one of the same or larger size. If it's a VM, add a new virtual disk.
Configure the RAID controller (if applicable) to add the new disk to the array. Rebuild the RAID volume. This can take hours, but you can proceed with the Content Server steps once the OS sees the disk.
Online the disk in the OS and format it with NTFS (or whatever filesystem you use). Give it the same drive letter or mount point as before.
Re-add the disk to the content group in the admin console, just like in the 5-minute fix. The Content Server will start a restripe to bring it back into the group.
Monitor the restripe. The status will show Restriping with a percentage. Once it hits 100%, the disk is active again.

If the Error Persists After a Fresh Disk

This is rare, but if you replace the disk and the error still shows up for the new disk, the problem is likely the content group configuration or a deeper issue with the Content Server's storage layer. Check the following:

Are other disks in the group showing warnings? If so, your whole array might be on its last legs.
Is the Content Server service account able to write to the disk? Permissions can get messed up after a rebuild.
Check the Windows Event Log for disk errors (Event ID 7, 51, 153). If you see those, blame the hardware, not Content Server.

In one case, I had a client whose Content Server was running on a VM and the underlying SAN had a bad fiber channel port. The disk kept getting restriped out because the storage went offline randomly. We moved the VM to a different host and the error never came back. So if you're on virtualized storage, don't rule out the hypervisor or SAN as the culprit.

What Not to Do

Don't ignore this error thinking it's informational. It's a warning that your content storage is degraded. If you lose another disk before you fix this, you'll have a full outage and possibly data loss. I've seen it happen. Also, don't just re-add the disk without checking its health—if it's failing, you'll be back in the same boat in a week.

One last thing: if you're running a Content Server version before 6.5, there's a known bug where this error fires incorrectly when a disk is briefly busy. Update to the latest service pack first if you're on an older version. That might save you the hardware swap entirely.