Author Topic: seeking feedback on a drive mounting / enclosing approach  (Read 1031 times)

Rich_Morin

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seeking feedback on a drive mounting / enclosing approach
« on: February 19, 2021, 12:26:06 PM »
I recently purchased a pair of OWC Thunderbolt Hubs, for use with a Mac mini M1 and a pair of Buffalo Americas RAID drives:

    Buffalo DriveStation Duo 2-Drive Desktop DAS 8 TB
    https://www.amazon.com/Buffalo-DriveStation-Duo-2-Drive-Desktop/dp/B00M77UGBM

- Each hub will be plugged into the incoming TB port on the mini.
- Each drive will be plugged into an outgoing USB port on the hub.
- The hub's other TB ports will support a scanner, video cameras, etc.

I'm trying to set the peripherals up in a manner that is relatively clean and compact, while making sure that they have sufficient cooling and protection from damaging magnetic interactions, etc.

By way of background, a number of years ago I had several OWC drives fail because of overheating power supplies.  So, I'd like to make sure that I'm not setting myself up for more problems.  Please look over the enclosed  text, then let me know (a) if it all sounds OK or (b) what I should be doing, instead. Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to enclose my photos (:-/).

The combined setup will be sitting on a wire rack.
The setup will be enclosed in a plastic Sterilite drawer.
The outer case has a dozen 3/4" holes drilled in the top:

The case bottom is already very open to airflow.
The drives and hubs sit at the front of the drawer.
The power supplies sit at the rear  of the drawer.
The hubs will be attached to the drives with Velcro.
The drawer bottom also has 12 3/4" holes drilled in it.

The lights on the drives will be visible through the drawer's front wall.

Q: Does the data wiring seem reasonable?

Q:  Do I need to provide a fan or does this setup allow sufficient airflow
for convective cooling?

Q:  Is there any problem (eg, thermal, magnetic) with having the power supplies
in close proximity (sitting on top of or beside) each other?

Q:  Is there any problem (eg, thermal, magnetic) with having the power supplies
in relatively close proximity (e.g. 4 inches) to the RAID arrays?

Q:  Is there any problem (eg, thermal, magnetic) with having the RAID arrays
in relatively close proximity (e.g., two inches) to each other?

Yours, Rich Morin

Rich_Morin

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Re: seeking feedback on a drive mounting / enclosing approach
« Reply #1 on: February 19, 2021, 02:10:45 PM »
FWIW, OWC claims there's no problem, but it wouldn't hurt to have a fan...