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Installing SCSI Hard-Disk Drives: Dell™ PowerEdge™ 2400 Systems Installation and Troubleshooting Guide

Overview • Preparing SCSI Hard-Disk Drives for Installation • Installing and Removing SCSI Hard-Disk Drives • Configuring the Boot Device

Overview

This section describes how to install and configure small computer system interface (SCSI) hard-disk drives in the computer's internal hard-disk drive bays.

CAUTION: Before you install new SCSI hard-disk drives, you must turn off the computer and disconnect it from its AC power source. For more information, see "Safety First—For You and Your Computer."

The hard-disk drive bays provide space for up to four 1.6-inch or six 1-inch hard-disk drives. (See "Installing Drives in the External Bays" in the Installation and Troubleshooting Guide for information on installing SCSI CD-ROM drives and SCSI tape drives in the external drive bays.)

Figure 1 illustrates the hard-disk drive bays, the hot-plug SCSI backplane board, and the Ultra2/low voltage differential (LVD) SCSI cable.

Figure 1. Hard-Disk Drive Hardware

Preparing SCSI Hard-Disk Drives for Installation

NOTES: For maximum performance, install Ultra2/LVD drives exclusively. Although you can install a mixture of Ultra2/LVD and Ultra hard-disk drives, they will operate at the slower Ultra transfer rate. Dell recommends that you use only drives that Dell has tested and approved for use with the SCSI backplane board.

SCSI Hard-Disk Drive Configuration

The SCSI drives must be configured as follows:

• Disable termination on the drives. The SCSI backplane board provides termination for the SCSI bus.
• Set the SCSI ID on all drives to 0. All SCSI ID numbers for the drives are set by the SCSI backplane board (the rightmost drive is set to SCSI ID 0).
• Configure the drives so that the drive motor waits for a Start Unit command from the SCSI host adapter before spinning.

Partitioning and Formatting SCSI Hard-Disk Drives

You may need to use different programs than those provided with the operating system to partition and format SCSI hard-disk drives. See "Installing and Configuring SCSI Drivers" for information and instructions.

When you format a high-capacity SCSI hard-disk drive, be sure to allow enough time for the formatting to complete. Long format times for these drives are normal. A 9-gigabyte (GB) hard-disk drive, for example, can take up to 2.5 hours to format.

NOTICE: Do not turn off or reboot your system while the drive is being formatted. Turning off or rebooting your system while the drive is being formatted can cause a drive failure.

Installing and Removing SCSI Hard-Disk Drives

SCSI hard-disk drives are supplied by Dell in special drive carriers that fit in the hard-disk drive bays.

Installing a SCSI Hard-Disk Drive

To install a SCSI hard-disk drive, perform the following steps.

NOTICE: Hot-plug drive installation is not supported for systems without an integrated redundant arrays of independent disks (RAID) controller or Dell PowerEdge Expandable RAID Controller (PERC) 2 host adapter card.

1. Power down the hard-disk drive bay. If the system does not have a RAID controller installed, shut down the system.
2. Open the front bezel.
   Grasp the bezel by the indentations on each side of the external drive bay and pull it slightly away from the chassis to release the two detents on the back of the bezel.
3. Open the hard-disk drive carrier handle (see Figure 2).
4. With the hard-disk drive facing the right side of the computer, align the edge of the carrier with the notch in the hard-disk drive bay key and insert the carrier into the drive bay (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. Installing a SCSI Hard-Disk Drive Carrier

5. Close the drive carrier handle to lock the drive in place.
6. Close the front bezel.
7. Lock the keylock.
8. Install any required SCSI device drivers.
   See "Installing and Configuring SCSI Drivers."
9. If the hard-disk drive is a new drive, run the Dell Diagnostics and test the new drive. See "Running the Dell Diagnostics" in the Installation and Troubleshooting Guide.

Removing a SCSI Hard-Disk Drive

To remove a SCSI hard-disk drive, perform the following steps.

NOTICE: Hot-plug drive removal is not supported for systems without an integrated PERC 2/Si RAID controller or PERC 2 host adapter card.

1. If the system does not have a RAID controller installed, shut down the system.
2. Open the front bezel.
   Grasp the bezel by the indentations on each side of the external drive bay and pull it slightly away from the chassis to release the two detents on the back of the bezel.
3. For systems with RAID controllers, power down the hard-disk drive bay and wait until the three SCSI hard-disk drive indicators on the drive handle signal that the drive may be removed safely.
   If the drive has been online, the three drive status indicators will flash sequentially as the drive is powered down. When all indicators are turned off, the drive is ready for removal.
4. Open the drive carrier handle to release the carrier.
5. Slide the carrier toward you until it is free of the drive bay.
6. Close the front bezel.

Configuring the Boot Device

If you plan to boot the system from a hard-disk drive, the drive must be attached to the primary (or boot) controller or SCSI host adapter card. You can select the primary controller by using the System Setup program.

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