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Forum Discussion
HDD Trays Brittle and crumbling.
Hi Netgear Support Community, I am the proud owner of a ReadyNAS NAS 316 unit (6 drive bays). In fact … I am a long term Netgear ReadsyNAS client whom owns 1 x NV+, 1 x NVX, 1 x 316 and 2 x 628 u...
Hi Mark,
>> "Have you placed the unit on cold or hot locations at anytime? Since it's plastic there might have been an occurrence of such where temp has something to do with it."
No, actually I have not placed the unit in any cold or hot locations. The unit has always been kept and operated in an open space, well ventilated environment (not endlosed) located on top of a side table in the living room near the wall mounted TV.
I do live in Singapore where ... the average ambient indoor temperature is between 25 degrees Celsius and 31 degrees Celsius all year round. Thunderstorms occur on 40% of all days in a year. Relative humidity is in the range of 64% – 96% and averges 80%.
If I was to speculate it appears that the plastic used in the metal and plastic composite HDD tray design is not really of the right polymer / compund for the job and does not remain pliable over time; instead becoming very brittle.
Being located in Singpaore would not likely help, but that should not be a disadvantage or a product operating environment restriction.
I note the earlier design of HDD trays was more robust than the current generation. The earlier trays had the locking and release fulcrum made of mild steel. The current generation use a plastic release fulcurm and it simply is not sturdty enough as the plastic ages, which really compromises the strength of the front assembly of the HDD tray. All plastics release thier polimers over time and degrade in a variety of ways.
>> The easiest I can think of getting replacement trays would be to check online for sellers where they have trays from their old ReadyNAS avaiable.
I have tried this option and sadly can not locate any. It appears Netgear has pulled these from sale. Ganeral Internet, eBay and Amazon searches do show a few listings (but only a very few) in the past, but all show as NIL stock.
>> You can contact Support and check for stocks that can be purcahsed thru them.
I would certanly be willing to try, but I would kindly request the specific email and a contact person's name to work with on this vexing problem with my 316. Coming in on a genral enquiry channel will take hours on to top of the hours and days I have already spend trying (without success) to source trays. Can you assist me in some way to make the right support connection by email and name please? Else I fear it will be an ever revolving door without any real progress.
Regards, A.
I am thinking that is is more likely that this particular tray was just defective.
I haven't seen this, even on my RN102 (which was a pre-production beta unit, and wasn't built with the normal manufacturing process). But I live near Boston (US), so my climate is completely different. But I also haven't seen this posted before - and if it were due to material choice, we should have seen this from other posters.
The best option is to contact paid support. Personally I'd ask for a courtesy replacement, but they might need to charge. While you can try to get a used tray (or even a used NAS for parts), that would likely be more expensive (and in the case of a tray, might be from a rack-mount or legacy ReadyNAS).
I suggest removing/inserting the remaining trays a few times, and see if they seem ok.
Hi StephenB,
>> I am thinking that is is more likely that this particular tray was just defective.
I do not believe that Netgear is in the habit of making defective products, unless maybe they had a defective batch? Netgear prides itself on quality as I understand it.
>> I suggest removing/inserting the remaining trays a few times, and see if they seem ok.
I gingerly tried a second HDD tray. Nope. That is how one broken front facia with fulcrum became two broken HDD tray front facias. The plastic front facias with lever mechanisms built into the plastic as a protruding nodule on all 6 trays are just to brittle with age! The trays move easily and freely once the HDD SATA connector releases from the ReadyNAS backplane board; no resistance there! It is the lever action and SATA connector release force expected to be supported by the plastic front facia with fulcrum assembly thay just cracks and crumbles when you try to gingerly release a drive for replacement. See image.
AT-ReadyNAS wrote:
unless maybe they had a defective batch?
Defective batch is what I was thinking. I'd start with support.
Singapore is of course humid - which I think will accelerate plastic degradation some. But they should have lasted much longer.
I really wish Netgear sold replacement trays. But I guess the volumes would be too low (since failures are rare).
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