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Remove the front 3.5-inch drive backplane

Follow instructions in this section to remove the front 3.5-inch drive backplane.

About this task

Attention

  • Read Installation Guidelines and Safety inspection checklist to ensure that you work safely.

  • Power off the server and peripheral devices and disconnect the power cords and all external cables. See Power off the server.

  • Before you remove or make changes to drives, drive controllers (including controllers that are integrated on the system board assembly), drive backplanes or drive cables, back up all important data that is stored on drives.

  • Before you remove any component of a RAID array (drive, RAID card, etc.), back up all RAID configuration information.

  • If one or more NVMe solid-state drives are to be removed, it is recommended to disable them beforehand via the operating system.

  • 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.

Procedure

  1. Make preparation for the task.
    1. Remove all the installed drives and fillers (if any) from the drive bays. See Remove a hot-swap drive.
    2. If the server is installed in a rack, slide the server out on its rack slide rails to gain access to the top cover, or remove the server from the rack. See Remove the server from rack.
    3. Remove the top cover. See Remove the top cover.
    4. Remove the system fan cage for easier operation. See Remove the system fan cage.
    5. Remove the air baffle if needed. See Remove the air baffle.
  2. Record the cable connections on the backplane and then disconnect the cables from the backplane first if needed.
  3. Remove the 3.5-inch drive backplane.
    Note

    Depending on the specific type, your backplane might look different from the illustration.

    Figure 1. Removing the 3.5-inch drive backplane
    Removing the 3.5-inch drive backplane
    1. Pull out the plungers and slightly slide the backplane to the side as shown.
    2. Rotate the backplane down to release it from the four hooks on the chassis. Then, carefully lift the backplane out of the chassis.

After you finish

If you are instructed to return the component or optional device, follow all packaging instructions, and use any packaging materials for shipping that are supplied to you.

Demo video

Watch the procedure on YouTube