[CarlRodabaugh]

Summary

New KB article: knowledge-base/posts/vsan-replacement-drive-device-empty.md.

After a hot swap, a replacement vSAN drive can stay Offline with VSAN drive is offline: Device is empty, need to call formatdevice or newdevice first even after Format and Initialize. Nothing public mentions this string. The article covers:

• scope: only after the normal procedure (Format, wait for completion, Initialize) has run, since a same-slot replacement is expected to show Offline before formatting
• checks before a reboot: replacement empty, compatible, and fully seated; node in Maintenance Mode; all other nodes online; no repair on another node in the same tier
• the troubleshooting path that resolved it in support: UI Reboot of the node (not a hard power-off), then repeat the replacement action (same slot: Format, wait, Initialize; different slot: Replace)
• a warning not to reboot any node once the drive is Repairing, and Format flagged DESTRUCTIVE with a serial-number match

Verification

• python .github/scripts/validate_frontmatter.py: pass
• python .github/scripts/validate_widget_links.py: pass
• All linked docs.verge.io URLs return 200 (curl -sIL)
• Steps and safety conditions checked against the drive replacement guide and Nodes Overview; technical review against current docs and 26.2.2.1 application source
• Fix order taken from the support case's actual resolution; it rests on one case, so the wording is hedged
• Not run locally: mkdocs build / lychee (CI covers those)

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[CarlRodabaugh]

Superseded by verge-io/docs-vergeos#90.

This PR was opened in the legacy documentation repository. The article has been recreated in the repository that supplies docs.verge.io, using its current structure.