Synology NAS Fans and Velcro Mod - Make Your NAS Quieter and Cooling in MINUTES

[@DavidM2002]

Robbie, I keep my TVS-h874 8-bay in my spare bedroom on an open shelf. I really only need 2 drives but it is fully populated with 8 large noisy drives. I forgot to mention that this is the spare bedroom that the in-laws occupy when they are visiting. Why on earth would I want to make this quiet when I spent good money on 6 drives that I have absolutely no use for to make this thing as noisy as possible. The in-laws now never stay longer than 2 nights which means not feeding them for 3 weeks the way I used to. That makes the cost of the extra drives a great investment. I broke even after just 2 visits.

[@nascompares]

I mean "stands up and claps* this comment is solid gold and fills me with joy. You sir have solid comedy game and I like it!

[@DavidM2002]

@@nascompares For added insurance and at no additional cost to you, leave your spare car, office and house keys in a glass dish on top of the NAS and schedule a RAID scrubbing for 2:00 AM of the 3rd night. They'll think they're having a Close Encounter with WOPR as it ramps up to DefCon 1.

[@SocialWorkProfessor]

I just read this aloud to my wife and she died laughing. She's curious if your partner is in on this fiendish plan 😂

[@DavidM2002]

@@SocialWorkProfessor Shhhh. She doesn't even know what a NAS is...

[@thaioviet8104]

haha joke sir @david

[@gmcsport]

I did this about five years ago to the DX517 5 bay expansion unit. The fan noise was noticeably louder than my DS918+ and ended up swapping the factory fans for Noctua NF-A8 ULN Fans. It's been a silent runner since. Great content as always!

[@whya2ndaccount]

Thanks for the info. Mine's in the garage in a portable rack with built in cooling - so there are the NAS fans and the NAS itself is inside a rack with fans too. The joys of wiring the house with CAT-6E some years ago.

[@thatman84]

I literally did this the day before this video. Works a treat, wife approved! My nas has been off for a year because of the vibration hum!

[@K3S01L2]

It would have been nice to know that the Noctua fans has to be FLX model not the PWM one. PWM has 4 pin plug where the FLX model is the 3 pin variant. As you can guess I have now two of those 4 pin PWM Noctua's on my table.

[@flobbyblobby]

I don't usually comment, but I've been a big fan of your videos for a while, and earlier today i installed two Noctua fans into my DX517 due to the warmer weather round the corner, and my NAS and extension sat in a cupboard - instant improvement in drive temperatures. It wasn't absolutely critical for me, but i still feel better knowing they're staying cooler, more efficiently - will do the main unit next month. Thanks for the walk through! Will do the velcro mod when i can afford bigger drives!

[@ShaneMcGrath.]

Did the Velcro mod back in 2020 along with placing NAS on rubber mat, Makes a huge difference getting rid of vibration hum, Won't stop the HDD clicks though if you have faster/higher capacity drives, I only use 5400rpm WD red plus, Only issue is 14TB is the highest capacity, Need to move to pro's if you want more space.

[@chronossage]

I can definitely agree adding the Velcro and getting a pad to set the NAS on really helps. I just cut 4 small squares of craft foam to make new feet for my 920+. It actually has more airflow than before as the new feet are a bit taller and just attached with some double-sided tape.

[@christer3175]

Saw your video when it came but haven't tried the velcro until now but what a difference! Thanks!

[@Papparazziby]

I had a loud noise from my DS932+ when the NAS was standing in the middle of the shelf, very likely the shelf just resonated. When I shifted NAS close to the edge the noise went away. So it is worth checking if the NAS stands on a steady basement.

[@badmintonmalaysia7529]

This is one of the best video I would say. I'm in Asian country with hot weather. A better fan is a must!

[@BoraHorzaGobuchul]

When placing synology on foam, it's best to make a sort of stand for it - a solid base say of plywood or carton, glue the strips of foam so that they don't move around and you don't risk the unit tipping. Maybe also glue s foam pad to the bottom of the plywoid/carton base as well. This way the bottom intake vents won't be covered. If you're paranoid, you can affix the unit to the base with straps, so that it doesn't fall off

[@waynedawson7441]

Hi. I'm new to anything NAS and recently purchased a DS923+. The Noctua fans you suggested for this unit are 4 pin but the fans in the NAS are 3 pin. Does this matter?

[@jooprose]

Hi, I did the same. I bought the ones that were pointed out by NASCompares but the plugs are 4 pins (PWM). I should have looked closer to the ones he uses in the video. Now I have to send the fans back and get other ones.... 😞

[@PolarRed]

I really didn't need to do any this, don't care, still love these type of vids Robbie! And yes, I hate seagulls too, tips on making them buggers quieter next please! o7

[@zrogon]

Good video. 3:18 When you place your synology on panels like this it will most certainly result in heat congestion around your nvme's... I've tried lol... didn't improve my noise since I had to increase the fans.

[@Beany2007FTW]

The magic trick is to cut out four chunky squares of that stuff, and place each one under an corner of the NAS where an existing foot is. Then you get majority of the benefits of the dampening of noise, but without the risk of blocked cooling because you're not blocking the NVMe area.

[@zrogon]

@@Beany2007FTW I like this answer, thanks!

[@choyhsien]

Thanks! This is exactly what I'm looking at at the moment? Velcro seems to be everyone's suggestion. How about other soft sticky things, like furniture feet? The other noise source is the seek noises from the drives that others have mentioned already in the comments. Is there any way to reduce the performance of the seeks and lower that noise? In my case, I think that is the main source. I'd hate to buy new drives, as that is much more expensive than the NAS itself.

[@TheCynysterMind]

I have the 1522+ and a 220j side by side... I have them set to quiet mode. They are so quiet that my computer fans at idle are often louder. I have ultrastore drives in my NAS and they are not appreciably loud.... I am an audio engineer and editor. So I notice noise more than most. I think that placement is probably more effective than these mods. Place them on the bottom shelf of a entertainment center or similar space. 'Felt' furniture sliders on the feet of the NAS will help... also a foam piece about 6-12 inches behind the unit will help

[@trueFreeco]

The chassis of my TS453D made an extremely annoying hum with 4 Seagate IronWolf 6TBs inside. I had already tried foam underneath, but that didn't help long. Once the foam sagged a bit the hum just started over. Since about a year I have doublestacked cork coasters under each corner. Problem entirey fixed! I then did the same for a DS418 with 4 WD Red Pro 4TBs to avoid the drive vibration transferred via the shelf into the brick wall. This NAS only runs for a few hours a week, just while backing up, but when it was on it was quiet audible even through a brick wall. With the 'cork coaster hack' it's not 100% fixed, but it's now very close to inaudible on the other side of the wall.

[@wfp9378]

When I put enterprise drives in I was stunned by the raising of the noise level. My 8 bay started to sound like a kettle just off the boil. I tried everything. The solution was to turn the TV up louder.

[@p4ct]

which fans for the DS923+?

[@mvp_kryptonite]

I replaced the fans in my USG Pro, best move ever! Noisy to whisper quiet. Noctua all the way

[@johnbeeck2540]

Great video and thoughtful, easy to adopt upgrades!

[@starbase218]

Ehm, I replaced the 2TB WD Greens in my DS218+, with 12TB Seagate Ironwolfs, which are helium filled, and they are quieter when idle. As per the spec as well (18dB). The only downside is that the noise they do make, contains something like a whistle tone. Which I read is common for helium filled drives. But it's not horrible. I mean, with all the switch mode power supplies around, I got some similar noise from those too. Still, I let them switch to idle after 20 minutes of no activity. Seeks are more noisy, but I'm not too bothered by that.

[@LeserGD]

I had a problem with my QNAP TS-453D, after replacing stock fan to Noctua NF-S12A PWM. When fan RPM dropped below 500 (that is just after powering on device) system was thinking that fan is broken and RPM in device BIOS was 0. With NF-A12x25 PWM I don't have this problem even with Low-Noise Adaptor. in most cases temperatures are below 40 Celsius degrees and RPM below 700, with 3 WD Red 6TB in RAID5, extension QM2 card with 2x WD RED m.2 SATA 500GB drives.

[@joshpayne4015]

Would love to see a specific video for Asustor NAS like the 5402.

[@martinmueller4673]

Did this with a DS416j - added Noctuas. They run and stop. DMS stating the the fan stopped working. Then it runs again, stops again. Very annoying.

[@salarymankwok5301]

I did the same mod on my DS920 but unfortunately one of the fan didn't spin and create alarm. Swapping the fans didn't help, anyhow one of the fan will stop spinning. It was not due to fan malfunction, for sure. Ultimately I have to swap back with the default fans and both fans spin.

[@PointerPapa]

I inverted the noctua fans and added dust screens so that air gets pulled in from the rear and moves over the drives and exits the drive bays

[@bokami3445]

I did something similar but I used Bounce anti-static cling sheets you toss into the dryer when doing laundry to trap the dust, with the added benefit of a nice fragrance in the air for a few days afterwards and they are easy to change out after a few months (my place is pretty dusty)

[@OKuusava]

@@bokami3445 Haha, yes if you use smelly laundry chemicals. I prefer not smelies. And those smellies are even prohibited if use our "house-laundy-machines" downstairs.

[@InspectorGadget2014]

You can add Noctua NF-B9 Redux to the list that often work out excellent for (some of) the QNAP's. But before anyone endeavours on replacing fans, first look-up the specs of your existing fans. (where technical details such as PWM versus voltage-controlled, 3- or 4-pin connector, airflow such as CFM and noise-level in dB(A) are quite important). Any replacement fan needs to match several of these parameters. (and can exceed the CFM value but definitely not a lower value). An alternative solution to vibrations, is to place the NAS itself on a "foamy" underground. I have successfully used speaker padding for an installation at a family-member.

[@LeserGD]

In my QNAP after switching to noctua fan I had problem, that BIOS couldn't read rpm below 500. I bought other noctua fan model and everything is ok. I wrote about that in separate comment.

[@FireLiteCreations]

What's the noise comparison (db levels) of the NAS while the HDDs are at max read/write speeds?

[@TheKrisKing]

My DS220 was crazy loud, started looking into mods like this and then my WD Red died. Replaced and its quiet enough now.

[@reneGOW]

DS1621+ what fans for this NAS

[@NativeFlorida]

In case it has not been said: On most fans, especially Noctua's, have on their plastic housing arrows that indicate the direction the fan spins as well as the airflow direction.

[@MrWillie123456]

Do you know what Kind of Noctua fan I need to replace the one in my Qnap TS-264-8G?

[@fennec7906]

I have a Synology DS918+ and I wanted to use the Noctua NF-A9 FLX fans, but Noctua was telling me that newer software updates can cause problems. E.g. a failure is reported and the NAS refuses to run with a "defective" fan.

[@phily5404]

hi there. DS224+ actually uses 92mm fan (so model NF-A8 doesn't work)

[@crystalfunky]

Do the velco strips affect the hdd temp in any way?

[@smos63]

Hi, do you know what Noctua fans should I use, in order to replace the fans of Synology DX517 expansion unit?

[@jrmbtr]

How much cooler does it run?

[@jamesdk5417]

Hi everyone, I have a DS1515+ that has died, a new power supply didn’t fix the flashing blue light. It has a mix of WD red and Seagate ironwolf drives, I would like to replace it with a Synology DiskStation DS1522+ but I am not sure if I can just swap my old drives into it, as their drive compatibility list does list WD reds as far,as I can see. Thanks.

[@CMH00000]

Yes, you can. It's easy. Search for "Synology HDD migration" will help you.

[@carlosroldao]

I’ve read that (some?) Noctua fan mods also require that you change some settings via SSH because they apparently run on lower RPM. Can someone confirm this?

[@khalidaldalalah3403]

Can i use NAS drive for pc? Or with other drives in hdd enclosure, where i turned it on and off regularly?

[@almazmusic]

Noctua fans, especially NF-A9, aren't compatible with at least my DS923+.

[@DerRoflator]

The Noctua fans dont work good on a DS916+ and probably the other NAS the same age. The fans are just a bit above the minimum needed voltage to run so sometimes you get an error that the fans don´t work. I swapped the Noctua NF-A9 FLX for some be quiet! PURE WINGS 2 92mm an they can still work with the lower voltage provided by the NAS.

[@bobbymoss6160]

Interesting topic. I really wish fan manufacturers use a industry standard pin order for their power headers, because I tried switching out the fans for both my Asustor and Terramaster fans with Noctua fans. I looked up the pin order for the OEM fans and switched the pin order of the Noctua fans to match. The Terramaster didn't recognize the fan at all (0 rpm), while the Asustor was operating at half speed. It's quite frustrating that I can't just switch out better fans without having to worry about pin order or voltage.

[@robertlee6338]

PC fans use very strict PC standards, the issue is not all NAS manufacturers like Terramaster use PC standards. As for the Asustor it has nothing to do with standards, but what current feedback Asustor is recieving from the fans. Since Noctua are much more effcient than cheap Asustor fans, the system is interpreting the feedback as faulty. It is Asustor that needs to implement a way for the user to change, just like all motherboard manufactures do..

[@WaNaWe-ju7en]

So is it Noctua NF-A9 FLX Fans (6-Bay NAS) compatible with DS1621xs+ ?

[@EvilMmM]

Hey hey! finaly got my hands on one nas.. the ticking of HDD are making me insane. so going to do this mod.

[@andrewdenzov3303]

8gb iron wolves has distinct noises in my synology. At first I thought about som silenced box for nas. But than I simply turn it off for the night

[@o0Hotiron0o]

Thank you

[@iAMJ966]

Thanks for the video. However, dedicating a well ventilated cold room for NAS systems is less risky.

[@ericnepean]

Simple fix, no mods - buy one of those rectangular kneeling pads about an inch thick by 9 or 10 inches front to back. Cut the kneeling pad so it is at least an inch wider than the NAS enclosure on each side, or use the full pad for two NASs Put the NAS on the upside down kneeling pad, with the hard surface upwards, the NAS enclosure legs don’t sink into the rubber.

[@CalBru]

Can we get the same on a Qnap :)

[@zapman2100]

this type of modification does not void your warranty in the US.

[@PlayingItWrong]

I'm putting a 180mm silverstone fan at the roof of my jonsbo n4, meaning I can run it near minimum.

[@praetorxyn]

On the noise front, the best thing I did for my NAS, I got these probably 3/4" thick noise dampening foam pads, 4 of them, and sat my NAS on those. The pads dampen the vibrations and keep the NAS from rattling whatever it's sitting on.

[@oscargraveland]

I seriously hope everyone does that. Requires no modifications of the NAS and helps a ton. Especially when the NAS is on some thin wood panel in a cabinet or someplace.

[@praetorxyn]

@@oscargraveland Yeah I haven't replaced my fan but I'll bet money this helps way more than that. I only ever really hear my fan if Plex is wigging out and deciding to put the CPU at 90%, which Emby and Jellyfin never do.

[@MarcoGPUtuber]

Synology's fans are that bad that they have to be swapped with a Noctua?

[@nascompares]

#shotsfired

[@metamon2704]

No, there is no real reason to change to Noctua in a Synology NAS.

[@Lorondos]

To be honest, a lot of gear, fans are where they cut costs to keep the price down so always hit and miss whether you get a fan that is the best it can be rather than good enough.

[@djheckler92]

I swapped the fans on my 1821+ with Noctuas, but now the PSU fan annoys me :P

[@iFreak993]

Great video I use the Noctua fans myself in my DS920 however DSM randomly stops one of the fans bringing in a fan failure warning. I have to run them at full speed to avoid the issue. Even in full speed mode they are quiet and nearly not hearable. It still sometimes stops one of the fans despite running them at full speed. The only way to fix it is to restart the DS. Many have reported this issue after they upgraded to DSM 7.

[@lelelekop]

Noct Tua! Quiet that thang..

[@MrTomo89]

I made mine silent instantly(ds923+) I have a MacBook pro 16 m3 pro it did sound like coffee machine just one seagate IronWolf 6TB in it all this for £570 for the nas and another £70 for the HDD I boxed it up and sent it back external ssd and 5 years of iCloud yes it don't do plex £600 for a plex box to watch 3 hours a week nah , photos app that's garbage compared to in built apple photos snap and its everywhere nah , have a UDM pro so not even using the sub par NVR when I looked at it I was convinced by channels like this its their bread and butter and very well made but very niche I'm done still here for the seagulls

[@metamon2704]

I wouldn't recommend changing the fans, for the most part it won't change much in regards to noise, and may end up making your NAS running hotter. The velcro mod however I feel is mandatory, it eliminates all hum from the NAS.

[@Demetry14]

Noctua fans are slower than stock and push less CFMs, that is not recommended.

[@smos63]

Hi,

[@jonevansauthor]

You've go to wonder why PC case manufacturers, I'm sorry, NAS manufacturers, don't just let you install perfectly normal fans. Its like they think you buy your NAS by physical size and having the space for proper ones would annoy you or something.

[@ReQuiem_2099]

Yeah, but how do I deal with the massively overvalued, underspecced hardware? Absolute travesty that they chose not to embrace Alder Lake-N.

[@v0ldy54]

Noctua fans are obscenely overpriced, if you want to swap fans just get something from Arctic, 95% as good as Noctua for less than 50% of the price if not even lower than that.