TS-230 Drive hum

[mrbungle]

Hi,

I just bought a TS-230 and 2 WD101EFAX drives. Upon installing the drives and powering up there was a very noticeable hum.

I performed troubleshooting and found that with one particular drive (say drive 'B') installed (on it's own without drive 'A') the hum was present and vibrations could be felt when touching the TS-230 case. I performed the exact same test with drive 'A' and drive 'B' in the NAS one at a time. I had them in the same drive bay using the same mounting tray and screws. The results were clear - one drive was quiet, the other drive had noticeable hum and case vibration. A sound measuring app on my phone confirmed the noise difference.

So I had drive 'B' replaced with drive 'C' (also WD101EFAX). I tested them separately (this time in different bays and mounting trays/screws) and found that drive 'C' had hum/vibrations (like drive 'B") while drive 'A' did not. With drive 'C' in, I could change the vibration/sound being made by certain touching of the case, particularly on top.

At this point I was getting suspicious as it is unlikely to get two faulty drives in a row (though possible). I happened to pick-up the NAS from the desk with drive 'C' in and to my surprise the hum and vibration disappeared. I placed the NAS back on the desk and it returned. Just holding the NAS did not remove the hum - it was the act of being in the air and not sitting on the desk. Same applies with both drives in the NAS at the same time.

As a further test I placed bubble wrap and picture frame packing cardboard (thing I had nearby) onto the desk, and placed the NAS on top of the bubble wrap. This reduced the hum significantly, though not completely. I imagine with more appropriate materials the hum could be eliminated.

I am rather bamboozled by these findings as:
* Having one (now two) drive with hum and one without should mean a drive issue
* Lifting the NAS in the air to remove the hum should mean there is no drive issue (because it is proving they can operate with no hum)

Edit: one more thing for completeness: I have moved the NAS between rooms as I test (from where it is meant to live to my testing area). On one occasion it would not turn on. I moved it back to the test area and it worked fine, so I just brushed it off. Last night after turning it on once the drive light never came on even after booting up. That was when just had drive 'A' installed on it's own. Every other time it has powered on OK. I can't imagine this could be related to the hum issue, but I'm mentioning it because it is odd.

Any advise on what to do next? I don't think I have an easy way to test the drive(s) in something other than the NAS.

Operating System you are using to access your NAS: Windows 10
NAS model: TS-230
Firmware Version/Build numbers: 4.4.2.1270
Network Setup: Single Port
Drive Configuration: RAID1 planned
Number of drives: 2
Both WD WD101EFAX-68LDBN0
Drive Firmware revision: Unknown

Jeff

[mrbungle]

Update: I ran a complete test on both drives (one a at time) and they both completed without errors.

When I checked this morning drive 'A' (the no hum drive) showed temperature 32 degrees while drive 'C' showed 49. Drive 'A' went up to 36 in a couple of minutes so I shut down the NAS (mainly because of drive 'C' being 49). There is nothing happening on the NAS - I haven't installed anything. I haven't even setup storage volumes.

Is this pointing to a drive issue?

[dolbyman]

the build of this non hotswap nas, could be influencing heat transfer of one drive . I personally would return this nas for a hotswap capable nas (easy broken disks swaps without taking it apart)

[mrbungle]

Interesting point re heat transfer. But then if the drive was normal temperature it wouldn't be an issue? I guess it should be designed such that if one drive is hot it shouldn't affect the other drive.

This NAS model is quiet and low power, which were the main factors in the purchase. While hotswap is better than non-hotswap, hotswap should be a very rare event. There are only 2 drives, so not much to fail and require swap.

[dolbyman]

there is lots of quiet and cheap arm qnap nas with hotswap bays...but your choice