Replacing the fan in ReadyNAS Duo - possible?

kevinl1886 wrote:
How do I open the case to replace the fan?

It's just simple small screws. No problem :)

I removed 4 small screws on the back. The case seems to stuck in place and will not come off. Did I missed something here? Do I need to remove the front door to get the case off? Need some help on the steps. Thanks

The new fan has a CFM of 27 m³/h, which seems to be higher than the original fan.

Well i don´t think its higher. I opened the case and in my Duo there is this model:

AGE06025B12H 12V DC Ball Bearing

Comparing to your list, the only fan which fits the description is AGE06025_12H. This fan has a air flow volume of:

43,56m³/h

kevinl1886 wrote:
I removed 4 small screws on the back. The case seems to stuck in place and will not come off. Did I missed something here? Do I need to remove the front door to get the case off? Need some help on the steps. Thanks

You have to pull the side panels. They slide out easly

Mechanix wrote:
You have to pull the side panels. They slide out easly

To be precise you need to slide them to the side (backwards). Then you can access the other screws to release the back panel. The rest is self explanatory.
If you would remove the front door it would take you to remove another 13 screws ;-)

Thanks. I will try

Hi kwantai,

i´m kind of confused now, because the fan you replaced with has a air flow volume of 27 m³/h. The original fan in the DUO has a CFM of 43,56m³/h, almost double.
The risk of overheating the drives is more possible with the replaced fan.

Any suggestions?

Just replaced the stock fan in my duo a couple of days ago with a Fractal Design Silent Series 60mm fan and everything is working great! Actually it´s better than great! The duo with two 500gb barracudas installed are running much cooler now, 35-36C as opposed to 40-41C with the stock fan with no modification to the automatic fan speed controls. And the best part is; it is almost quiet! It is almost as if the disks are noisier than the fan :) I have been really annoyed about the noise of the stock fan, especially as they market the duo as quiet! "Our designers went so far as to sleep with the Duo at night to make sure it was quiet so you can be sure it can fit in discretely anywhere in your home." yea right!

My advice to everyone out there, buy a new fan! But be careful, look for a fan that moves enough air to cool your drives!

________________________________________
http://komponenttoppen.blogspot.com

sibe wrote:
Just replaced the stock fan in my duo a couple of days ago with a Fractal Design Silent Series ; it is almost quiet! It is almost as if the disks are noisier than the fan :)

Thanks for the tip, I'm going to replace mine also but I have searched for a FD-FAN-60 on the internet and it seems that it is not sold here in FRANCE.... :cry:

Indeed, the Duos are not quiet...

To ReadyNAS modders... ;)
But on my side, my concern is about the fact that one of my 2 ReadyNAS Duo has a fan with a rotating speed fluctuating constantly :
When idle, the sound generated is varying every 1-2 seconds, and this is quite difficult to handle. The other ReadyNAS makes a steady sound and it is easier to accept.
My ReadNAS units are stored in a quite fresh closet (still perfectly dry...). Gaining a -10°c approximatively, regarding temperature in the rooms I live in : no more than 25°c during Summer, and down to 15°c at winter time. Despite the 15°c ambiant, fans still rotate at 1550 RPM approximatively (at the lowest, Drives are in sleeping mode).
Digging into PDF specs (see link page 1 of this thread), I'm assuming the AGE06025 is rotating at 1500 RPM when 7V are provided and up to 5000 RPM when 13V. With the max RPM, we have 0.726m3/min and 33 dBA (!).
ReadyNAS Duos are not built to be quiet with such fan. No matter how low you go on minimal RPM here...

I'm planning to make a significant move by replacing the fans but as the replacement parts recommended in this thread are difficult to find in my country (France), I'll probably give a try to the following solution :
As I didn't open the case yet, I'm here supposing we have a standard 3 pins plug (ground/current/RPM). To be confirmed...
I want to replace the provided noisy 60x60x25mm fan as follow : I will use a 80x80x25mm fan with a 80>60mm adapter, all mounted externally.
So far, my choice (based on good experience with other models from Noctua I use in my Computer case (and they are easy to get in France)) goes for the Noctua NF-R8 :
See specs here : http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=productview&products_id=9&lng=en
4-13 voltage range, 0.11 A max, 800-1800 RPM, from 0.43 to 0.88m3/min and... 7 to 17 dBA!! Seems interesting, isn't it? 8)

So... I want to hear your feedback and please tell me if I 'm missing something before giving a try to this... Excepting the lose of Netgear warranty, of course! :wink:
Actually, my concern is how RAIDator will handle the voltage/RPM ratio as it will be quite different with the Noctua. But I'm relying on fact that Fan Calibration is meant precisely to adjust this ratio (my assumption). Then, another concern is RAIDator expectation regarding given RPM and air flow (i.e. lowering HDD temps), but the Noctua is a better air mover so effective efficiency should be better than software coded "expectations".

What do you think?

[edit] Regarding voltage/RPM ratio and Air flow... Fan calibration makes me think RAIDator is driving Fan by RPM, obviously. So RAIDator will probably never reach the max RPM it expects, the Noctua Fan will rotate to its max speed (1800) most of the time (but moving more air than AGE06025). And even when RAIDator wants 1500, we are still close to Noctua max RPM (still quieter than AGE06025).