iXsystems TrueNAS ES12, Basic Setup Manual

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4 Install Drive Trays
Drive trays are used to mount drives in the chassis� Each drive tray has a status LED which is blue when the
drive is active or a hot spare� The LED changes to amber if a fault has occurred� A tray must be placed in each
drive bay to maintain proper air flow for cooling. If fewer than twelve drives are connected, empty “airbaffle”
trays must be placed in the empty bays. A standard drive tray installation order simplifies support and is strong -
ly recommended:
• SSD drives for write cache (W), if present
• SSD drives for read cache (R), if present
• Hard drives or SSD drives for data storage
• Air baffle filler trays to fill any remaining empty bays
Install the first drive tray in the top left drive bay. Install the next drive tray to the right of the first. Install re -
maining drive trays to the right across the row. After a row is filled with drives, move down to the next row and
start again with the left bay� This example shows the proper order for a write cache (W) SSD, a read cache (R)
SSD, eight hard drives, and two empty air baffle trays.
To load an individual drive tray into a bay, press the blue button to open the latch� Carefully slide the tray into a
drive bay until the left side of the latch touches the metal front edge of the chassis, then gently swing the latch
closed until it clicks into place�