Fixing Lacie NAS noise issue

Lacie 2Big Ethernet Disk Noise issue

As soon as I acquired LaCie 2big Network (2-disk RAID) NAS drive, I discovered that it is much too noisy to be used in the living room space I had intended it for. Here I describe my steps in trying to get rid of the whining noise and the ultimate solution I found. One might be able to apply the solution to other Lacie disks as well, Quadra or d2 for instance.

Always properly shutdown and unplug the device before trying any of the following. The procedures described in this guide likely void your product's warranty and may cause malfunction and data losses if you don't observer.

Analysis of the problem

The drive includes a small, too small, fan which keeps the system cool. Some noise is also produced by the included hard drives. The case needs some cooling and the Lacie adminstration software indicates is the fan blowing enough. The fan is not operated unless the disks get warm enough.

Tried but unsuccessful fixes to reduce hard drive noise

After borrowing a professional infra-red surface temperature meter I entered a number experiments to figure out how I could safely get rid of the sound without increasing the temperature of the discs above 40 degrees celcius, which seems to be within safe limits.

Remove the fan: the unit will overheat
Remove the fan and the side of the chassis: still gets too worm
Remove the case and the fan: the unit still overheat and the noise from the drives themselves can still be heard

Ultimate solution

Completely dissassemble the housing of the drives and place to a relatively sound proof place. Once you take out both of hard drives and place in a semi-open space, separated from each at the cables lenght, they should stay cool enough. The software will not bother about the status of the fan if the disks remain cool enough. To absorb the running noise from the disks themselve, I place the whole package inside a sofa as shown in the photo below:

This how it looks through the adminstration interface:

Other people with similar issues

http://www.fixya.com/PostAnswer.aspx?thid=350517&prdid=511306 Hard drive making strange alarm/chiming noise

http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/hard-drive-support/358171-lacie-hard-drive-loud-fan.html Lacie Hard Drive Loud Fan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o85QJGz99eI Lacie d2 External Drive Fan Noise

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