Disk Drive Installation Guidelines And Restrictions; Installing Disk Drives - Dell EqualLogic PS4000 Hardware Maintenance

PS4000 Hardware Maintenance

Disk Drive Installation Guidelines and Restrictions

• Install only disk drives of the same type, speed, and spin rate in an array. The
color of the handle release button indicates the disk drive type (black for SAS;
gray for SATA).
• Make sure the disk drive is oriented in the position shown in Figure 2-4, with
the handle release button to the left.
• You can use disk drives with different sizes in an array. However, the smallest
disk drive in the array will determine how much space can be used on each
disk drive. For example, if the smallest disk drive is 400GB, only 400GB of
space will be available for use on each disk drive.
• Make sure to insert a disk drive fully in the chassis before pushing in the
handle.
• When correctly installed, a disk drive will be level with the front of the array.
If the disk drive is protruding from the array, reinstall the disk drive.
• After installation, make sure the disk drive power LED (top) is green or
flashing green.
• There is a two-minute delay between the time you insert a disk drive and the
time the disk drive is automatically configured into a RAIDset. This time
interval allows multiple disk drives to be simultaneously configured in an
array, which is more efficient than installing a single disk drive, configuring
it, and then repeating the process. For example, when you install a disk drive,
the timer starts. If no other disk drives are installed, the disk drive is
configured after a delay of two minutes. If you install another disk drive
before two minutes have elapsed, the timer is restarted.
• If you install a disk drive during RAID reconstruction or verification, the new
disk drive will not be configured until the operation completes.

Installing Disk Drives

Caution: Wear electrostatic protection when handling a disk drive. See Using
an Electrostatic Wrist Strap on page 1-5.
To install a disk drive or a blank carrier:
1. Hold the disk drive by the plastic carrier, with the handle release button to the
left, and slide the disk drive partially into a slot.
Maintaining Disks
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