Solution for a totally passive NAS

[shogun-r]

I'm interested in a totally passive NAS (without fans and vents). Is there any good solution for this?

My purpose for this is to keep the NAS quiet and in particular dust-free.

I have found this one - QNAP HS-210

Is it a good NAS? Is QNAP a good company for NAS?

Suppose that this one is one of the only choices if I want a passive NAS. Or some other solution?

 

[TonyH]

Hi,
Your NAS going to be up 24/7? Usually NAS goes to sleep when not active saving power and reducing noise. Even when running some are very quiet. Really my Synology DS-713+ is quieter than my big desk top PC. QNAP is one of established name in the market. I think QNAP stands for Quality Network appliance product some thing like that. IMO, Synology OS seems more friendly to user. You can do a test drive on line on their web site. Good luck and have fun..

 

[stevech]

I would NOT put spinning disks in a fan-less NAS unless I lived in the extreme north on the planet!

Next best is SSDs but the are cost-prohibitive (for me).

Next best is 5400 RPM (not 7200) 2.4 inch disks with good thermal sinks. But those disks tend to be low capacity and high cost/GB compared to 3.5 in. disks.

My DS212's fans are more than quiet enough. In the same room with my solid state cooler for the wine refig and its fans are noticeable.

My DS212 is configured to shut off during sleeping hours in this house.

 

[L&LD]

Don't be too sure about SSD's heat tolerances - they are just as susceptible to heat as hard drives are.

 

[stevech]

Don't be too sure about SSD's heat tolerances - they are just as susceptible to heat as hard drives are.

But SSDs don't generate much heat themselves. So the heat rise above ambient is low compared to a rather hot hard disk.

 

[L&LD]

Yes they do (generate heat).

 

[TonyH]

Hi,
I suffered a first 150 GB SSD failure couple weeks ago, Good thing I had drive image back up. The failure was gradual sporadic r/w errors getting worse. After reformatting will last couple days and repeat the same thing. Even tried on different laptop
to realize it was a goner.

 

[sinshiva]

ya know, i've always had really good luck with modern hdds and ssds. the only exceptions have been the ancient things that i used to use in my old firewall box. none of my drives made in the last, say 5 years, have failed on me. (knock on wood)

atm, i've got an old 30gb OCZ ssd in one of the original acer netbooks and an 80gb intel SSD in my old alienware m11xR2 lappy. the battery of the alienware literally burst and i've yet to replace it, so it's not functional, but no problems from the SSDs with heat, etc. I was working that alienware /very/ hard, too. it was constantly running at max performance for a few years, setup as a desktop.

my 4x hitachi drives in raid0 also never gave me trouble, but i sold that comp some time ago. i even broke the sata connector on one so that only the pins were intact, had to rig the plastic bits that broke off to the sata cable, but the drives i'm sure are still going strong lol.

i want to say that the SSDs ran noticeably cooler than the HDDs, but honestly, the heat from any of the drives never really got beyond warm to the touch. at least, they stayed a lot cooler than the much older drives i've used in the past

SSDs are probably better for a fanless setup, but i don't think i'd be concerned enough to prevent me from using a couple high density HDDs. i figure with higher throughput from the higher density, the drives don't necessarily have to work as hard for as long.

Just curious, what kind of temps have y'all seen from your drives?

 

[Dennis Wood]

Qnap is suggesting drives here:

http://www.qnap.com/i/en/product_x_grade/product_intro.php?g_cat=1&II=118&hf=old

The WD RED drives run quite a bit cooler than most, which is likely why they are recommended. We have a few esata portable drives which are equipped with WD green 1TB drives. These enclosures have zero ventilation, passive or otherwise, yet after a few hours of drive imaging (which is what we use them for) they are just warm. Qnap has no doubt incorporated passive convective cooling (you can't stack anything on top) which is better. I have another two mini-itx pfsense boxes..both fanless, and both using SSD drives. Again, zero issues with CPU and MB temps approx. 40C. Personally, I like fan-less setups as otherwise, a simple (cheap!) fan failure will often bring a system down. In my experience, repeated temperature and power cycling are likely worse for reliability than higher temps themselves are.

We have three QNAP NAS (5 and 6 bay) units running now 24/7 for over 5 years with zero failures. Having been under the hood on a few of them, including a fourth unit (TS-470 Pro), I can pretty much guarantee the tech crew at QNAP has tested the fanless setup extensively. In other words, I would buy one. You will be surprised by the feature set QNAP has built into even their inexpensive NAS units.

 

[L&LD]

But SSDs don't generate much heat themselves. So the heat rise above ambient is low compared to a rather hot hard disk.

https://communities.intel.com/thread/42542

If i copy something from HDD to SSD, the SSD temperature goes up to 85°

Just so you don't think I'm making this up.

 

[stevech]

SSDs.. warm when writing?
I confess, I've never looked. Each time I shut down and immediately open case and happen to feel the SSD, it's cool to the touch.

I have SSD in desktop (for couple of years, heavy use each day, as the boot disk).
And an SSD in a laptop used 5 days a week all day - for a long time.

Paranoid I am, I have clone and image backups of these.

 

[sinshiva]

hm. the ssd in that thread is mSATA, probably an apples to oranges scenario. and i'd hope in that case, he drew the short stick. 85c is a waaay hotter than i've ever seen from a regular 2.5" ssd. i'm surprised he'd even waste time/effort/money putting a 'sink on that

 

[L&LD]

No, seems normal for that mSATA drive model. A 2.5" SSD isn't made any differently, if anything it has more components to heat up in a confined space too than the limited mSATA open air versions.

The point is that SSD's do generate heat - they can't suspend the laws of physics any more than the HDD's can. (They do more work and they heat up approx. the same temp in an absolute sense).

 

[sinshiva]

you're probably right. i was thinking that the ratio of any processing, etc. to actual storage was smaller with an msata than a standard ssd, so maybe the 2.5" ssd was a bit better at passive cooling, etc. of course, i haven't touched any of the latest and greatest SSDs. i would certainly have expected hdds to run warmer than ssd's with their electric motors, but then again i prefer to stick with single platter hdds because i've convinced myself they are probably more reliable than multiplatter solutions; maybe this accounts for the cooler temps there?

i do have an external usb3 2.5" 1.5tb that's totally sealed up and connected 24/7. i've even ran steam off it in the past. it's never gotten beyond warm to the touch and i'd expect normal SSDs to typically be cooler than that.