SCF Reference Manual for the Storage Subsystem (G06.24+, H06.03+)
Managing Magnetic Disks
SCF Reference Manual for the Storage Subsystem—529937-007
7-14
Sparing a Defective Sector
Sparing a Defective Sector 
Sector sparing is the process of moving the data on a physically defective sector to a 
different sector and preventing data from using that defective sector again. A disk 
sector can be spared in two ways:
•
Enabling Automatic Sector Reallocation on page 7-14
•
Sparing a Sector Manually on page 7-15 
Automatic Sector Reallocation 
If automatic sector reallocation is enabled (the default), the system automatically 
spares defective disk sectors when detected. The INFO, LOG command displays 
spared sectors.
Automatic sector reallocation is controlled by the $ZRD9 process. This generic 
process starts automatically when you load the system and continuously searches for 
media error events on every sector on every disk in the system. 
When automatic sector reallocation finds a media error event, it starts the $ZARS 
process. $ZARS spares the bad sector, updates the system’s internal database, and 
continues to run as long as media error events are reported. When no more media 
error events are reported, $ZARS stops. 
Displaying Information About Automatic Sector Reallocation
To determine whether automatic sector reallocation is enabled on your system, at the 
TACL prompt:
> STATUS $ZRD9 
Enabling Automatic Sector Reallocation
To enable automatic sector reallocation:
-> START PROCESS $ZZKRN.#ROUTING-DIST
Disabling Automatic Sector Reallocation
If you want to disable automatic sector reallocation, you must disable it for all disks; 
you cannot enable or disable it for specific disks.
System \COMM
Process  Pri PFR %WT Userid Program file   Hometerm
$ZRD9  0,381 150 015 255,255 $SYSTEM.SYS00.EMSDIST  $ZHOME
    Swap File Name: $SYSTEM.#0
 Current Extended Swap File Name: $SYSTEM.#0
$ZRD9  B 1,372 150 001 255,255 $SYSTEM.SYS00.EMSDIST  $ZHOME
    Swap File Name: $SYSTEM.#0
 Current Extended Swap File Name: $SYSTEM.#0










