T300, two SAS HDD in RAID 1, LED blinking green and amber

Thank you for the reply,

This will be my first time replacing a HDD on this server or on any RAID system. I have few questions.

1. Should I get the hdd with identical specifications? Rpm, capacity etc?

2. Can it be any brand and model or is the RAID controller picky?

3. Is there a guide available on how to go about replacing the drive? I'm running server 2008

4. should I turn off the server and swap the drive and then power it back on will it automatically format and resync data?

Thank you

It does not need to be identical, but if the drives originally came from Dell, then make sure you replace the drive with a "certified" drive (Dell co-branded for servers).  Certified means not having to worry about brand/model differences.  RPM does not matter, but if you get a slower RPM than the original, you could see a performance slowdown; likewise, if you put in a faster RPM, there may be a slight performance increase; bottom line - the RPM's don't make any difference in compatibility.  If your drives are accessible from the outside of the system, they are hot-swap and should be swapped "hot".  If they are cabled and accessible only inside the system, best practice is to shutdown to replace it; all SAS/SATA drives are technically hot-swappable, but to prevent accidental damage to other internal parts, the server is usually shutdown for this.  Before removing the drive, open OMSA (OpenManage Server Administrator), go to Storage, PERC, Backplane/Enclosure, Physical Drives, and choose either Prepare to Remove or Force Offline for the drive showing Predictive Failure.  Wait 30 seconds after removing the drive before inserting a new one.  Watch for OMSA to show the drive as Ready, then Assign it as a Hot Spare.

Thank you for reply,

I checked my order and these are the details I found these details regarding the RAID controller and the HDDs that I have

Hot Plug Add-in SAS6iR RAID Controller (SATA/SAS Controller) which supports 2 Hard Drives - RAID 1

500GB 7.2K RPM Near-Line SAS 3Gbps 3.5-in HotPlug Hard Drive

500GB 7.2K RPM Near-Line SAS 3Gbps 3.5-in HotPlug Hard Drive

On Dell website I dont even see any SAS drives that I can order. I see on other sites like newegg etc, but none of them are hot swapable.

The "Hot Swap" HDD are different than regular SATA HDD? Can't I buy any SAS HDD and put in the "hot swap" tray?

Thank you

Dell's website is horrible - call Support or Sales or contact your rep.  You would be better off with something like this than a generic SAS drive:

www.xbyte.com/ProductDesc.aspx

SAS/SATA by specification are hot-swappable, but the term hot-swappable is often used to refer to drives that are replaceable from outside (front) of the machine.  The drives themselves are the same.

Hi,

In OMSA V6.5, I only have option for Blink and Unblink, nothing regarding taking the drive offline. How else can I go about "hot swaping" the drive?

Thank you

Sorry ... forgot we are talking about the SAS 6.  Just remove the drive is fine.  To "hot-swap", you simply release the drive handle and pull the drive from the front.

While the system is running? or is it better to turn off the system and then do it? and will it automatically re-sync?