ECS EX500 - Replacing a Faulted Hard Drive. Customer Replaceable Unit. In this video, we’ll show you how to replace a faulted hard drive in your EX500 system.
Before you begin, make sure that you have read all safety precautions on handling replaceable units, such as using electrostatic discharge wristbands or gloves.
For more information, refer to the ECS HDD Replacement CRU, available on Dell.com/Support. Now, let’s identify the component you want to replace. To do this, first log on to the ECS UI and click Manage.
Under Maintenance, click the node that contains the faulted hard drive. On the Maintenance page for the appliance, click faulted node to drill down and get details on hard drive status.
Once the recovery is fully complete on the disk, the disk status color turns blue and Replace becomes available. Click Replace. Now that the system is ready to replace the component, remove the front bezel.
If the disk is on the first drive bay, idenfied by the blinking LED, you will not have to open the drive bays. If you do not see the blinking LED, this means that the faulted drive is in the rear drive bay, and you need to remove the drive bays to gain access to the faulted drive.
The next step is to open the drive bays, if necessary. If the disk is in the first drive bay, you don’t have to worry about the thermal concerns.
Please note, drive bays should not be open for more than 10 minutes because of thermal concerns. If you need to replace multiple disk drives and you do not have enough time to fully complete the replacement process for all disk drives within the ten minute window, close the system and wait 20 minutes before replacing the remaining disk drives.
Once you close the drive bays, they should remain closed for 20 minutes before they can be opened again. Also, ensure that you replace only one disk drive at a time.
If you need access to the rear drive bay, and the drive bay is locked, unlock the drive bay lock that is located above the left release latch, by pushing it up.
Open the release latches of drive bay and pull the drive bays out. With the drive bays out, locate the faulted disk that you are going to replace.
Locate the node by the blue blinking identification LED. The faulted hard drive has a green LED light that blinks twice every 1 second. Make sure that you verify the disk slot location and Serial Number based on the disk information provided in the ECS UI Maintenance pane.
Also, make a note of disk slot location and Serial Number, and keep this note handy. You’ll need to verify these details later. Press the release button to open the drive carrier release handle.
Holding the handle, slide the hard drive out of the hard drive slot. Go to the ECS UI. and click Manage. Under Maintenance, select the node and hard drive that you’ve just replace, and verify that the disk serial number matches the number reported for the disk drive being replaced.
If the disk serial number does not match, immediately reinsert the disk into its original slot. Once verified, uninstall the hard drive from the carrier.
Using a Phillips #1 screwdriver, remove the screws from the slide rails on the drive carrier. Then lift the drive out of the drive carrier. With the faulted drive out of the carrier, its time to install the replacement hard drive.
Insert the drive with the connector end of the drive toward the back of the carrier. Next, align the screw holes on the drive with the screws holes on the drive carrier and replace the screws to secure the drive.
Press the release button on the front of the hard drive to open the release handle. Insert the hard drive into the hard drive slot and slide until the hard drive connects with the backplane.
Close the release handle to lock the hard drive in place. The node and disk identification LEDs automatically turn off. If there are any additional faulted hard drives showing as ready to replace in the ECS UI Maintenance pane, perform the replacement of the next drive on this node.
However, check the time first. If you are replacing additional disks in that chassis on the same node, ensure that you can complete the disk drive replacement within 10-minute service window.
Also, do not physically remove and replace the next disk unless corresponding Disk Status in the ECS UI shows Replace Disk. You’re done replacing the faulted hard drive.
Now put the drive bay. Pull back the blue release tabs on both sides and slide the drive bays into the system, until both the bays lock into place.
Then, install the front bezel. Finally, verify the replacement. Go to the ECS UI and click Manage. Under Maintenance, click the node that contains the hard disk that you just replaced.
The disk status should be Initializing and eventually turn to Healthy. The Initializing process may take 10 to 15 minutes, depending on disk size and system load.
You can proceed with the next disk replacement while the previous disk is still Initializing. Ensure that you check on the previous drives afterward.
You’ve just replaced a faulted hard drive. For detailed instructions on replacing this or other components, refer to the ECS documentation at Dell.com/Support.
