DiskHA - Disk Replication, Health Checks, and Email Alerting

I run an NFS server on my network. I use two large drives and a cron job to rsync the data to provide basic data protection. This solution will not save you from power surges, fire, theft, or accidental data deletions. But it works. It’s exactly right for my home setup. When a drive fails - This happens; things break; it’s inevitable:

• I power down the server
• Disconnect both drives
• Order a replacement
• Install it and reconnect the remaining good drive
• Sync the data from the good drive to the new drive

This is fine, until it’s not.

What’s also needed is a cron job to run SMART health checks on the drives and email notification if there’s a problem. This is pretty easy to do with msmtp and a Gmail account.

That’s it!!

The fact is that this is one of the most important pieces of infrastructure I have.

I decided to package it into an app. Enter DiskHA:

The website says it all. I won’t repeat it here.