Removing and replacing a drive

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Use the following procedure to remove and replace a drive in the enclosure.

Before you begin

Attention:
  • Electrostatic discharge precaution symbol When you replace this part, you must follow recommended procedures for handling electrostatic discharge (ESD)-sensitive devices.
  • No tools are required to complete this task. Do not remove or loosen any screws on the drive.
  • You can identify a failed drive by the flashing amber fault LED on the drive. If the fault LED is lit on a drive, it is safe to replace the drive.

    If you are not sure which drive is faulty, go to the management GUI and follow the fix procedures to prevent loss of data or access to data. If an incorrect part is removed, it is possible to lose access to data.

  • Every drive slot must contain either a drive or a blank filler, and must not be left empty for more than 10 minutes during servicing. Ensure that you read and understand the instructions. Also, ensure that the replacement drive is available and unpacked before you remove the existing drive.
  • IBM FlashCore® Modules are not interchangeable with the flash modules that are used in IBM® Storage FlashSystem 900 storage enclosures.
  • The version of firmware on the replacement drive might not be the latest drive firmware available, and might not match the firmware version of other drives in the system. If necessary, firmware on the replacement drive should be updated after this procedure is complete. For more information about the drive firmware, see Updating drive firmware using the CLI and Updating drive firmware using the GUI.

For more information about the supported drives, see Control enclosure replaceable units.

Attention: Never remove a drive when its green activity LED is flashing. You can replace only a failed drive when its amber fault LED is lit (not flashing) or when the drive activity LED is off.

Procedure

The following video demonstrates removing and replacing a drive. Watch the video before performing the steps. The video applies to IBM Storage FlashSystem 5300 as well as IBM Storage FlashSystem 5200.

  1. Read the safety precautions in the IBM Systems Safety Notices. These guidelines help you safely work with the system.

Removing the drive

  1. Remove the full-front bezel. For details, see Removing and replacing the enclosure bezel.
  2. To release the drive handle, press the release latch  2 , on the right end of the drive, identified by a blue triangle.
    Figure 1. Drive release latch and handle
    Drive release latch and handle
  3. Pull the handle  1  to the open position.
  4. Slide the drive out of the enclosure.

Replacing the drive

  1. Orient the drive so that the LED indicators and the blue touchpoint are on the right.
  2. Press the blue touchpoint to release the handle, then open the handle completely.
  3. Slide the replacement drive into the enclosure.
  4. Close the handle until the release latch clicks into place.
  5. Press the drive handle to ensure that the drive is fully inserted into the drive slot.
  6. Install the full-front bezel. For details, see Removing and replacing the enclosure bezel.

Results

For RAID arrays, if the replaced drive is a failed drive, the system automatically reconfigures the replacement drive as a spare, and the replaced drive is removed from the configuration. The initialization of the replacement drive can take a few minutes. For Distributed RAID, if the replaced drive is a failed drive, the system automatically reconfigures the replacement drive as a member. The initialization of the replacement can take a number of hours.

After insertion, the drive firmware is automatically updated if the current firmware level is down‑level compared to the version included in the system software package. For more information, see Drive update.