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[escaner]

Hello

My DNS-323 gets really hot when the discs are working for long periods of time and they can't get asleep (bittorrent, etc). Not to mention those Seagate heaters! I need to remove the front cover and set the fan to max to get some air circulation. Therefore, I was thinking on improving ventilation:

1. Drilling holes on the front cap to improve air circulation.

2. Modifying the temperature settings for the fan speed. Is this possible, perhaps via fun_plug?
I don't know what they are, but when my box says 45-46ºC, it really burns but the fan stays at Low speed (fw 1.08).

3. Slowing down the speed of the drives. I saw this years ago in an utility for an IBM or Maxtor drive I think. Less noise and and less heat. Does Seagate has something similar to that? E.g. run the 7200 rpm drives at 5600 or even slower? Anyway, the bottlenetck here is the network...

Any comments and experiences would be appreciated.

Thank you
Oscar

[jamieburchell]

Why would you do that? If it ain't broke, don't fix it

My NAS is idling at 39°C at the moment without any drive activity. The room is fairly cool although we've got a hot summer at the moment.

The default setting is to shutdown the NAS at 60°C - nowhere near what you are quoting. It might feel warm to touch, but that doesn't mean there's a problem.

Just excersize common sense by not blocking the air holes or shutting it in a cupboard, oven etc.

[gunrunnerjohn]

I modified the cover of both my DNS-323 and DNS-321, which dropped the temperatures about 5C in both boxes.  I just hogged out the bottom with a file.  The box looks the same sitting on the bench, just has some cooling vents that will allow it to cool.  The DNS-321 looks slightly different, had to leave the material in the middle due to the different construction.

[jamieburchell]

I just hogged out the bottom with a file.

My beautiful DNS-323!! 

[gunrunnerjohn]

Formerly beautiful, but now more functional.

[jamieburchell]

Find out the NAS's maximum designed operating temp and the same for your drives - and I doubt you are even close in either area. The drives I use have a max opperating temp of 60°C, which is what the default cut-off point is for the NAS.

[gunrunnerjohn]

Just because the drives can run at 60C, that doesn't mean it's a good idea.  A general rule of thumb for electronics in most cases is every 10C reduces the life by 1/2.  Cool is always better.

[jamieburchell]

I agree, but I just think mods like this are a bit drastic when the system is opperating well within the limits. I'm sure D-Link would have added more holes, better ventilation or bigger fans if they thought it needed it

[gunrunnerjohn]

Well, the whole point of doing the mod in the first place was that all was not well, I was having some intermittent issues and noticed both the hard disks and board were hitting the low 50's.  When the A/C is on it's fine, but when it got a bit warm in the room, it was suffering.

I'm sure D-Link would have added more holes, better ventilation or bigger fans if they thought it needed it

Uhh... Stop and think about what you just wrote, and then read some of the issues that are presented in this forum!

[jamieburchell]

The OP is talking about temperatures around 45-46ºC though, which IMO doesn't warrent any modifications. I'd bet most users don't need to take a file to their DNS-323. I guess it depends where you store it. My drives have never reached anything over 45ºC according to the SMART data in a house with central heating / no air-con and it's reached 30ºC outside this summer...

[dosborne]

I wrote a perl script that sucks out various stats every hour. My units never go above 40 even under heavy load. Both units populated with 2 drives each, raid 1.

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 17:00:10 EDT check_nas: NAS 192.168.1.40:81 Size:0915GB Free:0653GB [71%] Temp:37°C Up:34 days 22 hours 17 minutes

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 17:00:10 EDT check_nas: NAS 192.168.1.41:81 Size:1374GB Free:0500GB [36%] Temp:38°C Up:15 days 18 hours 29 minutes

[edit: these are the box temps extracted from the status pages]

[gunrunnerjohn]

I suspect it must be the Seagate heaters I put in mine, they get pretty hot.

[jamieburchell]

For what it's worth, I've got two Seagates in mine... (ST3500320AS)

[gunrunnerjohn]

What can I say?  I noticed the box hitting the 50's, looked to see there was no intake vents, and set about correcting it.  It dropped the internal temperatures 5-6C with no adverse effects, so I was happy.  Given that you can't see the bottom of the front place when it's in place, it also didn't affect the box cosmetically.

You may not like the idea, but it's an easy solution to lowering the temperatures in the box.

[escaner]

Guys, when I told 45-46º, I meant with the front cover removed and the discs running. I don't dare to put it on. If the sensor which I presume is in a well ventilated area far from the HDDs is at that temperature, imagine the air between the discs and the sides of the box...
The Seagate specifications say between 0 and 60ºC as operating temperatures, and I plan no to get to withing 10º of either of those extremes plus some margin.

Gunrunnerjohn, I like your mod, I will begin with that and see how it behaves.

Dosborne, could you tell me where do you read the temp of the drives?

Thank you guys!