Almost constant HDD activity on QNAP NAS ... disconnect from internet?

[gregmacc]

Hi all ...
Back in March '21 I posted this:

popping noise and orange network light flickering
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Post by gregmacc » Thu Mar 18, 2021 12:52 pm

Yesterday I received and began setting up my new TS253D + X2 8tb HDDs. I have set-up the configuration process using the quick wizard and storage pool and volume building are complete ... (I think). The unit took about fifteen hours to complete the storage pool. When I go into the storage/snapshot settings it tells me those processes are complete ... but the unit continues to make popping noises every few seconds and the orange network LED keeps flickering. I have not loaded any apps and it seems to have only the default ones ready to use. I have not launched any apps, created folders or added any data. The popping noises are quite distracting when I am at my workstation situated in the same room. I can accept noise when the NAS is actually processing functions but is this noise normal, as I presume it should be in some sort of idle mode and not being actively accessed?

I received some helpful responses as to what might be going on, but nothing conclusive. I got on with life and tried to ignore the seemingly random activity.

Since the initial setup I have loaded various files (music, photos, documents) and Minim Server, which I use to play music from various device endpoints in our house. That's all working fine. But ... the "noises" remain. I have come to the conclusion that the noises are just disk access happening (they do coincide with flashing of the NAS cabinet disk and network lights) ... but why? - This activity happens almost constantly. It happens at times when no one from our household is accessing or running apps from the NAS. Sometimes I will be sitting at the desk without the main desktop PC turned on (Windows 10) and the NAS will spring into life from what I presume is a sleep/standby mode. The sound of the X2 HDDs spinning up can be heard like a PC when it boots.

Is it possible that my NAS (and possibly complete local network) is being accessed/browsed from unknown, possibly malicious entities via the internet? There does not seem to be anything dysfunctional or untoward going on with our network and connected devises. So I'm not particularly suspicious of malware/virus issues. So should I disconnect the NAS from the internet and if so how? And would I need to manually reconnect it occasionally to get current app and firmware updates? I believe I would need to log into my modem/wireless router to accomplish this ... or maybe not. We have no need to access our NAS remotely via the internet and we don't use surveillance cameras.

My tech knowledge and aptitude is obviously very limited. I've tried to find answers to my questions online but it all seems to be directed at folks with a much deeper knowledge about this stuff than I. I'm hoping some forum members can respond in lay terms to my "novice" questions ... or at least point me in the direction of someone who can ... or is all the noise and flashing lights just normal and should I find something more important to worry about

[dolbyman]

Constant noise is quite normal as logs are written to the discs

Is your NAS exposed to the web ..? If you are worried about malware...

[gregmacc]

Thanks for responding dolbyman ... so what is it logging? ... certainly not anything I'm doing. Although it runs 24/7, weeks can go by before it's accessed by us in any way. And yes, we are definitely underutilising it. Most of my day to day computer work is done on a laptop which is on the same wifi connection. But I don't consciously send to, or access from the NAS with it.
The NAS is setup with default settings. All I've done is install a third party music server (Minim Server) and music file library, and I've copied our important data and image files to it. It must be exposed to the web because whenever I do log into it, it almost always gets a few automatic app of firmware updates. Or am I missing something? (a distinct possibility). I haven't dug into any of its privacy/permissions/security settings because I don't know what I'm doing yet. I understand that I need to get myself educated about this stuff ... and part of that process is asking questions here I guess.

[dolbyman]

The NAS logs plenty of stuff (disk utilization,access,hardware stats,etc)

An exposed NAS means ports forwarded to the NAS from WAN, not that the NAS can reach WAN itself

[googleg]

My tech knowledge and aptitude is obviously very limited. I've tried to find answers to my questions online but it all seems to be directed at folks with a much deeper knowledge about this stuff than I. I'm hoping some forum members can respond in lay terms to my "novice" questions ... or at least point me in the direction of someone who can ... or is all the noise and flashing lights just normal and should I find something more important to worry about

Constant disk activity on a Qnap NAS should be considered "normal".

Many users have tried, with little success, to understand and reduce/control the disk activity. The best you can do is to switch to SSDs in order to silence the NAS.

[gregmacc]

Thanks for responding googleg ...

Constant disk activity on a Qnap NAS should be considered "normal".

Many users have tried, with little success, to understand and reduce/control the disk activity. The best you can do is to switch to SSDs in order to silence the NAS.

This is reassuring. I'm going to find something more important to worry about