Dell 2900 Removing a Drive Blank, Installing a Drive Blank, Removing a Hot-Plug Hard Drive

NOTICE: Do not turn off or reboot your system while the drive is being formatted. Doing so can cause a drive failure.

When you format a high-capacity hard drive, allow enough time for the formatting to be completed. Long format times for these drives are normal. A 9-GB hard drive, for example, can take up to 2.5 hours to format.

Removing a Drive Blank

NOTICE: To maintain proper system cooling, all empty hard-drive bays must have drive blanks installed. If you remove a hard-drive carrier from the system and do not reinstall it, you must replace the carrier with a drive blank.

1Remove the front bezel, if attached. See "Removing the Bezel" on page 50.

2Insert your finger under the shrouded end of the blank and press in on the latch to eject the blank outward from the bay.

3Pry the ends of the blank outward until the blank is free.

Installing a Drive Blank

The drive blank is keyed to ensure correct insertion into the drive bay. To install a drive blank, insert the blank into the drive bay and press evenly on the ends of the blank until it is fully inserted and latched.

Removing a Hot-Plug Hard Drive

1Remove the front bezel, if attached. See "Removing the Bezel" on page 50.

2From the RAID management software, prepare the drive for removal and wait until the hard-drive indicators on the drive carrier signal that the drive can be removed safely. See your SAS RAID controller documentation for information about hot-plug drive removal.

If the drive has been online, the green activity/fault indicator will flash as the drive is powered down. When both drive indicators are off, the drive is ready for removal.

3Open the drive carrier release handle to release the drive. See Figure 3-6.

4Slide the hard drive out until it is free of the drive bay.

5If you do not replace the hard drive, insert a drive blank in the vacated drive bay. See "Installing a Drive Blank" on page 56.

NOTICE: To maintain proper system cooling, all empty hard-drive bays must have drive blanks installed.

Installing a Hot-Plug Hard Drive

1Remove the front bezel, if attached. See "Removing the Bezel" on page 50.

2If a drive blank is present in the bay, remove it. See "Removing a Drive Blank" on page 56.

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Installing System Components