About this taskAttention:• Read “Installation Guidelines” on page 47 and “Safety inspection checklist” on page 48 to ensure that youwork safely.• Power off the server and peripheral devices and disconnect the power cords and all external cables. See“Power off the server” on page 62.• Before you remove or make changes to drives, drive controllers (including controllers that are integratedon the system board assembly), drive backplanes or drive cables, back up all important data that is storedon drives.• Before you remove any component of a RAID array (drive, RAID card, etc.), back up all RAID configurationinformation.• If one or more NVMe solid-state drives are to be removed, it is recommended to disable them beforehandvia the operating system.• To ensure that there is adequate system cooling, do not operate the server for more than two minuteswithout either a drive or a drive filler installed in each bay.ProcedureStep 1. Make preparation for the task.a. Remove all the installed drives and fillers (if any) from the drive bays. See “Remove a hot-swapdrive” on page 133.b. If the server is installed in a rack, slide the server out on its rack slide rails to gain access to thetop cover, or remove the server from the rack. See “Remove the server from rack” on page 63.c. Remove the top cover. See “Remove the top cover” on page 277.d. Remove the system fan cage for easier operation. See “Remove the system fan cage” on page269.e. Remove the air baffle if needed. See “Remove the air baffle” on page 70.Step 2. Record the cable connections on the backplane and then disconnect the cables from thebackplane first if needed.Step 3. Remove the 3.5-inch drive backplane.Note: Depending on the specific type, your backplane might look different from the illustration.Chapter 5. Hardware replacement procedures 117