Replacing the fan in ReadyNAS Duo - possible?

When I for the first time powered my DUO two weeks ago, I just couldn't believe the noise it was making. It wasn't anything like jet taking off but there was this weird high pitched noise, similar kind you get from old tv's (you know, the ones with a tube :) ). I'm really sensitive to that kind of noise so it was quite irritating. Also, there was some lower frequency ringing noise as well, but it disappeared after I had installed two disks (with one disk it would get even louder). Couldn't ever imagine sleeping with my DUO.

While searching for other users with noise problems, I found this thread and got excited. DUO was already delivering more than I could hope for, but getting rid of the noise was a must. So I decided to order Noctua NF-R8 and a 60mm to 80mm adapter. I installed them today.

First I removed the drives and opened the case which was quite easy even though the screws were really tight. Somebody had really used force on them :) Removing the stock fan was a breeze. It took a bit of twiddling to get the adapter in place without need to modify the adapter (the adapter gets in the way of the left cover). What I did is that I used long screws with bolts so that bolts were inside the chassis and screws were initially loose so that I could fit the left cover in place before screwing the adapter in place. Then I used bent paper clip through the grill in the back of the chassis to stop the bolts from rotating while driving the screws in.

When I turned the DUO on, I first thought that it was broken as no sound came out of it. But the fan was on, sucking some air out of the DUO. I went to the Frontview, and on the Health page it said FAN 1 had RPM 0 and then dialog saying "FAN 1 has failed" came up. I got alarmed but FAN health status also said that "out of range" etc so I clicked recalibrate and after that RPM was show and the fan was ok.

I'm really happy with the Noctua even though installing it was a bit of a difficulty. Fan is rotating at 1600 RPM and the drivers are cooler than ever (dropped from 29 celcius to 27 celcius - 22 being room temp). On some heavy duty backuping the driver heat to around 30 but it used to be 34. I'm thinking of tuning the RPM down a bit as drivers are cooler than before and the fan is still making some noise even though it's barely audible contrary to the stock fan. I recommend the fan replacement to anyone who finds the stock fan noisy. Just remember that it will void the warranty... and it can be done without any kludges if you have patience with it. Happy! 8)