Got an Icy Dock now HDD’s are getting hot

[Pstark]

I bought an Icy Dock 5 bay enclosure https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00DWHLFMA?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_image but now my drives are getting hot. It seems the fan on the back is flat against the PCB and there for not moving any air. Are there any other enclosures that don’t have this issue?

[ChatNoir]

What are you calling "hot" ?

How many drives in the enclosure ?

How is the fan control speed set up ?

 

3 hours ago, Pstark said:

It seems the fan on the back is flat against the PCB

I think that's on purpose to ensure that the air comes from the drive area, not from the interior of the case.

There are openings in the PCB to pull air from the outside, between the drives.

 

I use that same enclosure and my drives only reach 34°C during a parity build. It seems quite OK for me. (I use the low fan setting).

[RichieLAX]

It depends the type of drive you are using the environment that you are working with. I used this model before SSD was a normal thing now but didn't experience any heat issues. Fan was always on low or off.

[Pstark]

On 1/24/2022 at 10:18 AM, ChatNoir said:

What are you calling "hot" ?

How many drives in the enclosure ?

How is the fan control speed set up ?

 

I think that's on purpose to ensure that the air comes from the drive area, not from the interior of the case.

There are openings in the PCB to pull air from the outside, between the drives.

 

I use that same enclosure and my drives only reach 34°C during a parity build. It seems quite OK for me. (I use the low fan setting).

I have 4 out the 5 bays filled with WD Red HDD's. I have a 5th drive but haven't installed it yet. When I installed the 4th drive, I decided to pre clear all the drives as I'm putting this together piece by piece. The system also doesn't have any data on it yet either. The reason I'm asking about these drives getting hot is because Unraid notifies me that they are getting hot. I'm not sure what the critical temperature is for HDD's but according to Unraid, they are hot. With fans on "HI" temps were around 40c which is acceptable but when fans are on "MED" or lower they are 48-49c. With the unit having a fan, I just thought I would wouldn't have to worry getting a high temp notification. 

[JonathanM]

54 minutes ago, Pstark said:

4 out the 5 bays filled with WD Red HDD's. I have a 5th drive but haven't installed it yet.

That may be some of the issue. When you leave an open slot, all the cooling air will go through it instead of flowing over the other drives.

[Pstark]

10 hours ago, JonathanM said:

That may be some of the issue. When you leave an open slot, all the cooling air will go through it instead of flowing over the other drives.

That makes sense. It has a tray in the open slot but with no HDD in it I guess it still be true. 

[Pstark]

Can someone recommend a different array that will cool them better? I had to put a fan on the front to keep them cool. 

[JonathanM]

Are ALL the other openings in the case either taped off or have a fan actively EXHAUSTING air? If you have any openings in the case besides your drive cages that are allowing outside air to get in you won't get adequate drive cooling.

[Pstark]

14 hours ago, JonathanM said:

Are ALL the other openings in the case either taped off or have a fan actively EXHAUSTING air? If you have any openings in the case besides your drive cages that are allowing outside air to get in you won't get adequate drive cooling.

The cage is in open air. i.e. not in a case. the The cage is unmodified exactly how I received it when purchased. After putting the drives in and noticing the high temps I put a fan case fan in front to assist with air flow. So it not has a push fan in from and an exhaust fan at the rear (original fan). With the additional fan, it keeps them cool but to me it was a waste of money. Can anyone tell me what "normal" temps are in other cages? I'm only concerned because Unraid is warning me. I don't know if Unraid default temp warning are realistic or not.

Edited February 1, 2022 by Pstark

[JonathanM]

7 hours ago, Pstark said:

The cage is in open air. i.e. not in a case.

It's designed to be mounted in an enclosure, with at least a power supply fan helping to move air.

 

Hard drives want consistent temps, 40c is fine if they don't vary much from that, but constant cycling from 25 to 40 is bad. Either leave them spun up so they stay consistent, or cool them better so they don't experience wild temp differences every time they spin up.

[Pstark]

7 hours ago, JonathanM said:

It's designed to be mounted in an enclosure, with at least a power supply fan helping to move air.

 

Hard drives want consistent temps, 40c is fine if they don't vary much from that, but constant cycling from 25 to 40 is bad. Either leave them spun up so they stay consistent, or cool them better so they don't experience wild temp differences every time they spin up.

The whole system is sitting out in the open in a relatively small room. I have central air keeping the whole house at ~75f. The room also has a ceiling fan that I keep on as well. I’m just going to return it and maybe look into a DAS or other solution. This just isn’t working. 

[Pstark]

Yesterday, I blocked off the bay that’s not currently being utilized to see if it made a difference and so far it seems to actually be making a difference. So I decided I’m going to try replacing the fan with a Noctua high pressure fan to see if that will get better air flow through the cage. I’m hopeful that it will work but I’ll post my findings when I get it. 

[ScruffyJas]

On 2/4/2022 at 4:58 PM, Pstark said:

Yesterday, I blocked off the bay that’s not currently being utilized to see if it made a difference and so far it seems to actually be making a difference. So I decided I’m going to try replacing the fan with a Noctua high pressure fan to see if that will get better air flow through the cage. I’m hopeful that it will work but I’ll post my findings when I get it. 

any updates on this?

[Pstark]

9 hours ago, ScruffyJas said:

any updates on this?

Yes, I tried this and didn't work for lowering temps so currentlyI have it a 120mm fan in front pushing air into it and the 92mm still in back pulling. While this keeps the HDD temps a lot lower, it's just inefficient. I just ordered a different 92mm fan I'm going to see if it works better and hopefully won't need the fan in front. I ordered a be quiet pure wings 2. I also got a Norco SS-500 and it keeps the temps at the same level with just one fan in the back. The Norco has better airflow than the Icy Dock but then again, I'm not using these in a case as they're intended. 

[Pstark]

I installed a Pure Wings 2 92mm fan in the rear yesterday and on the high fan setting these are the temps during a parity check. They are better than the fan that came with the unit. No fan in front anymore so just the single 92mm fan now. I might recommend a noctua instead if noise isn’t a concern but the Pure Wings 2 is virtually silent which is a plus.