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[dmnc_]

Will this BS up my data? I keep getting "left hard drive has failed" because it overheats and shuts down, and there's a _lot_ of dust inside my old 323. If I power it off, take out both disks and clean it thoroughly it should stop overheating, but what will this do to my raid and my stuff? Will the unit think they're new disks and want to format them? Should I remove one at a time and clean that half and rebuild the RAID from the remaining disk?

[gunrunnerjohn]

Turn the device totally off and remove the power.

Remove the disks and do your cleaning.

Make SURE to replace them into the same slots.

Power up, it will detect no changes, and if it worked before, it'll work again.

[dmnc_]

Thanks! Quick reply too! I'll do that as soon as it's rebuilt (the left drive is currently recovering from the latest overheat.

[gunrunnerjohn]

I did a modification to my DNS-323 to improve the cooling, made a significant difference.  I just hogged out the bottom of the front panel to allow some airflow.  If you look at the box, there is no intake vents, so the fan is pretty much just there to make noise with some venting.  You don't have to do anything to the main case, just what you see here.  I did a similar thing to the DNS-321 that I have, helped a bunch there too.

[stevied26]

I did a modification to my DNS-323 to improve the cooling, made a significant difference.  I just hogged out the bottom of the front panel to allow some airflow.  If you look at the box, there is no intake vents, so the fan is pretty much just there to make noise with some venting.  You don't have to do anything to the main case, just what you see here.  I did a similar thing to the DNS-321 that I have, helped a bunch there too.

Would be interested to know the difference in operating temperature between the before and after?

My 323 runs at 45 dec C normally, as stated from the d-link config screen.

A small mod like this with a small black grill installed would work wonders if it does make a significant difference.

[gunrunnerjohn]

Well, it's cooler here now, but when I did the mod in the summer time, I was running 52-53C and the mod brought it down to 46-47C.  The drives came down about 3C.  Since it was free, I figured it was worthwhile.  I didn't bother with a grill, I just put the front back on after the mod.  Looks just like it did unless you pick it up and look under it.

[dosborne]

Drilling a numer of holes may provide the same advantage and be easier for some to accomplish as well as providing a clean look.

[gunrunnerjohn]

Actually, I drilled the largest holes I could, but there's no comparison between some holes and just removing all the material.

I fail to see the reservation about appearance, you can't see this unless you pick up the NAS and look under it!  Why would you do something less effective?  There is no outward appearance difference between the before and after.

[jamieburchell]

The obsessive-compulsive amongst us will "know it's there" 

[gunrunnerjohn]

I know it's there, but I just don't care.   I also know the drive runs cooler because it's there.

[stevied26]

The question remains; has the 323 been poorly designed in the first instance?

An intake vent would surely make sense if it results in improved operation, or does it really matter?

Do other NAS products on the market have intake vents? Do they operate at higher/ lower temperatures?

Apologies for abducting original post 

[jamieburchell]

I know it's there, but I just don't care.

You're a poet and you don't know it!

[jamieburchell]

The question remains; has the 323 been poorly designed in the first instance?

An intake vent would surely make sense if it results in improved operation, or does it really matter?

Do other NAS products on the market have intake vents? Do they operate at higher/ lower temperatures?

Apologies for abducting original post 

None of my hard drives have ever reached more than 47 °C according to the SMART monitor. And we can assume the inner temperature of the NAS was slightly less than that. I suppose it depends what you consider to be too hot (hint: the DNS-323 will by default switch off at 60 °C).

A common misconception is that a colder hard drive will last longer than a hotter hard drive. A study by Google showed the reverse to be true. Hard drives with average temperatures below 27 °C had a failure rate worse than hard drives with the highest reported average temperature of 50 °C, and a failure rate at least twice as high as the optimum temperature range of 37 °C to 46 °C.

http://abs.google.com/papers/disk_failures.html

[gunrunnerjohn]

The question remains; has the 323 been poorly designed in the first instance?

An intake vent would surely make sense if it results in improved operation, or does it really matter?

Do other NAS products on the market have intake vents? Do they operate at higher/ lower temperatures?

Apologies for abducting original post 

Yes, it should have had better cooling.

Yes, it does matter.

Yes, I have a number of older and a newer (the Synology) NAS, all of them have cooling vents.

[fordem]

The DNS-323 also has cooling vents - that's what gunrunnerjohn enlarged - and incidentally, in so doing he has disrupted the designed air flow pattern.

I invite those of you who are brave enough to disassemble your DNS-323, there are rubber plugs on the back face that cover the screws holding it in place, and once that is removed there are more screws that hold the inner assembly in place, remove those and then slide the assembly out the front.

Take a good look - the system board acts as a divider between the upper & lower chambers - upper, where the disks are housed and lower, where the board & electronics are housed - air is drawn through the vent, through the lower chamber into the upper chamber and then out the fan.