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Remove a hot-swap drive

Use this information to remove a hot-swap drive.

Before removing a hot-swap drive:
  1. Ensure that you have back up data on your drive, especially if it is part of a RAID array.
    • Before you make changes to drives, RAID adapters, drive backplanes, or drive cables, back up all important data that is stored on the drives.

    • Before you remove any component of a RAID array, back up all RAID configuration information.

  2. If one or more NVMe drives are to be removed, it is recommended to disable them first in Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media (Windows) or filesystem (Linux). See the labels above the drive bays to determine the type of the drive to remove. If the drive bay numbers come with the term NVMe,, it indicates that the installed drives are NVMe drives.

  3. If the security bezel is installed, remove it. See Remove the security bezel.

Attention
To ensure that there is adequate system cooling, do not operate the server for more than two minutes without either a drive or a drive filler installed in each bay.

To remove a hot-swap drive, complete the following steps:

Watch the procedure

A video of this procedure is available at YouTube.

  1. Slide the release latch to open the drive tray handle.
    Figure 1. Opening the drive tray handle of a 2.5-inch hot-swap drive
    Opening the drive tray handle of a 2.5-inch hot-swap drive
    Figure 2. Opening the drive tray handle of a 3.5-inch hot-swap drive
    Opening the drive tray handle of a 3.5-inch hot-swap drive
  2. Grasp the handle and slide the drive out of the drive bay.
    Figure 3. 2.5-inch hot-swap drive removal
    2.5-inch hot-swap drive removal
    Figure 4. 3.5-inch hot-swap drive removal
    3.5-inch hot-swap drive removal

After removing a hot-swap drive:

  1. Install the drive filler or a new drive to cover the drive bay. See Install a hot-swap drive.

  2. If you are instructed to return the old hot-swap drive, follow all packaging instructions and use any packaging materials that are provided.