Need cooling ideas for external NAS box

[jbw]

I just set up a 2TB Western Digital My Book World Edition II on my network. It contains two WD10EACS green drives which I have configured using RAID1.

A photo of the unit is here:

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=588

I put some rubber feet on the wide, smooth side of the drive and laid it horizontally inside of my media cabinet. Mistake. When I was transferring data to it, the unit shut off. I checked the system log--the internal temperature had exceeded 65 degrees so it shut itself down.

It works fine when it's vertical, which allows air to enter through the back and bottom, and vent out the top. There is no internal fan.

I really want to lay it on its side, though. Has anyone ever modded one of these or something similar by adding a fan on the outside? I think that the only real challenge would be hooking it to the drives' power leads so that the fan runs only when the drives do.

Thoughts?

[Dirge]

I am surprised to see it is a fanless NAS, in my opinion that is a real design win.

I know its not answering your question but what problems does sitting the NAS in the upright position cause you? Perhaps you could relocate it outside the media cabinet to get some cooler air.

[jbw]

I did end up moving it outside the cabinet. No problems with cooling now. Only problem is that I've got an unsightly white box sitting on the cabinet, haha.