Anyone here using an OWC Thunderbay enclosure?

[WilliamG]

Thanks for the reply. Interestingly it does say on the power supply board something along the lines of 'risk of fire replace fuse with the same type'. However, I don't see anything on the board that I recognise as being a fuse, unfortunately.

I ended up buying another Thunderbay 4 (I enquired to a UK supplier of OWC products, and SoftRAID support, who replied to say their experience was that the Thunderbay 4's are generally reliable - so I'm hoping this failure is just bad luck). I already have a Drobo 5D which I've relegated to Time Machine function. The Drobo 5Dt looks promising, but I decided against in the end as it's very expensive (over £900 here in the UK), is a bit slower than I get with my RAID 1+0 with SoftRAID, and I like the more visible drive monitoring that SoftRAID provides compared to Drobo. If I have another Thunderbay fail then maybe next time I'll move to the 5Dt.

I'll keep my failed unit for spares - and I plan to keep pursuing OWC as I think it's unacceptable that they won't repair or provide parts.

Good on you. Do update if you hear anything from OWC that's helpful. I have 3x Thunderbay 4s, and I'd be very irritated if they'd provide ZERO support if one failed.

First Thunderbay 4 bought November, 2014. Second bought January, 2015, and third bought September, 2016. Aside from some fan differences (I replaced them all anyway, since they were all too noisy for my liking when the drives weren't spinning), they've all behaved flawlessly.

 

[hfg]

I am also running 3 of the ThunderBay 4's here 24/7 and they have been problem free. I too immediately replaced the fans in all of them with the recommended quieter fan.

 

[WilliamG]

I am also running 3 of the ThunderBay 4's here 24/7 and they have been problem free. I too immediately replaced the fans in all of them with the recommended quieter fan.

I forgot to mention mine haven't ever been shut off, though the drives do sleep automatically when not in use.

 

[ImaxGuy]

Dropping in on this thread. After two years of running a Thunderbay 4, I just swapped it out for a Thunderbay 8. Although it seems the two units have the same not terribly quiet fan (Sunon Maglev HA92251V4-1000C-G99), but the one in the Thunderbay 8 has an added noticeable whine at 700Hz. The Thunderbay 4 did not have this issue. Does anyone have a recent recommendation for a fan replacement?

Thanks!

 

[0279317]

Dropping in on this thread. After two years of running a Thunderbay 4, I just swapped it out for a Thunderbay 8. Although it seems the two units have the same not terribly quiet fan (Sunon Maglev HA92251V4-1000C-G99), but the one in the Thunderbay 8 has an added noticeable whine at 700Hz. The Thunderbay 4 did not have this issue. Does anyone have a recent recommendation for a fan replacement?

Thanks!

I replaced the fan in my RazerCoreChroma eGPU with a fan from Noctua https://noctua.at (not sure if they have one suitable for OWC's TB enclosure) much quieter and can select fan speed.

Noctua NF-S12A FLX, Premium Quiet Fan, 3-Pin (120mm, Brown)

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www.amazon.co.uk

 

[ImaxGuy]

I replaced the fan in my RazerCoreChroma eGPU with a fan from Noctua https://noctua.at (not sure if they have one suitable for OWC's TB enclosure) much quieter and can select fan speed.

Noctua NF-S12A FLX, Premium Quiet Fan, 3-Pin (120mm, Brown)

-

www.amazon.co.uk

As a test, I swapped the fan from the old Thunderbay 4 with the Thunderbay 8 and the tone was eliminated. It came back when I restored the fans to their respective units. I'm selling the Tb4 to a good friend, and I won't pass this issue onto him.

Thanks for the link! I just looked up and ordered the three pin Noctua NF-A9 FLX. Fingers crossed!

 

[ImaxGuy]

I replaced the fan in my RazerCoreChroma eGPU with a fan from Noctua https://noctua.at (not sure if they have one suitable for OWC's TB enclosure) much quieter and can select fan speed.

Noctua NF-S12A FLX, Premium Quiet Fan, 3-Pin (120mm, Brown)

-

www.amazon.co.uk

Done and done 👍🏽👍🏽. Three pin Noctua NF-A9 FLX installed. It's quieter than both fans from OWC and I used the 1250 rpm low noise adapter. All I can hear now are the drives spinning. Now I wish they had a solution for my 15" i9 MacBook Pro 😔. Thanks for the tip - I'm very happy with my purchase.

 

[FCX]

Done and done ????. Three pin Noctua NF-A9 FLX installed. It's quieter than both fans from OWC and I used the 1250 rpm low noise adapter. All I can hear now are the drives spinning. Now I wish they had a solution for my 15" i9 MacBook Pro ?. Thanks for the tip - I'm very happy with my purchase.

I'm about to replace the Sunon fan in my OWC Thunderbay 8 (loaded w/SSDs) - the only thing I can hear is that stupid fan! Any issues with the Noctura or enclosure after 1.5 years?

 

[WilliamG]

I'm about to replace the Sunon fan in my OWC Thunderbay 8 (loaded w/SSDs) - the only thing I can hear is that stupid fan! Any issues with the Noctura or enclosure after 1.5 years?

Nope. Been using the Noctuas 24/7 for years.

 

[ImaxGuy]

I'm about to replace the Sunon fan in my OWC Thunderbay 8 (loaded w/SSDs) - the only thing I can hear is that stupid fan! Any issues with the Noctura or enclosure after 1.5 years?

No issues at all with heat or annoying noise, but with my recent purchase of a Mac Studio Max to replace the MBP, it is once again the "loudest" thing in the room. I've moved it from under my desk into a closet 5 feet away with the door ajar for venting. I can't really hear it at all now.

 

[FCX]

UPDATE: Installed the Noctua fan w/LNA (still higher cfm and lower noise than the 'be quiet!' fan they recommended). This thing is amazing. Thanks for the thread!

 

[Traverse]

I've been using an OWC Thunderbay 4 mini with 2.5" SSDs. It's really nice, but the fan was obnoxiously loud. I ordered a Noctua fan, but it turns out that the mini is using a different kind of connector and the online videos discuss soldering - nope. I just took the fan out and the SSDs stay within normal operating temperature.

 

[WilliamG]

I've been using an OWC Thunderbay 4 mini with 2.5" SSDs. It's really nice, but the fan was obnoxiously loud. I ordered a Noctua fan, but it turns out that the mini is using a different kind of connector and the online videos discuss soldering - nope. I just took the fan out and the SSDs stay within normal operating temperature.

Yep that’s correct, and really annoying, right?! I ended up going with a USB powered fan controller connected to the Mac mini, and attached the Noctua fan in place of the original in the Thunderbay 4 mini.

 

[rpmurray]

No issues at all with heat or annoying noise, but with my recent purchase of a Mac Studio Max to replace the MBP, it is once again the "loudest" thing in the room. I've moved it from under my desk into a closet 5 feet away with the door ajar for venting. I can't really hear it at all now.

Your desk looks like it could use a few more displays.

 

[Traverse]

Yep that’s correct, and really annoying, right?! I ended up going with a USB powered fan controller connected to the Mac mini, and attached the Noctua fan in place of the original in the Thunderbay 4 mini.

Interesting - so you installed a Noctua fan to the Thunderbay, but instead of connecting it to the Thunderbay's logic board you connected it to via USB to the computer? Granted that's another cable running behind the desk, but may be a way to get cooling back.

I'd rather the unit have active cooling (even if not technically needed), but I could hear the OEM fan even with the setup under my desk. It was really bad for no reason.

 

[WilliamG]

Interesting - so you installed a Noctua fan to the Thunderbay, but instead of connecting it to the Thunderbay's logic board you connected it to via USB to the computer? Granted that's another cable running behind the desk, but may be a way to get cooling back.

I'd rather the unit have active cooling (even if not technically needed), but I could hear the OEM fan even with the setup under my desk. It was really bad for no reason.

Exactly that. Except I have a little 5V USB power adapter instead (like for your iPhone), and have it plugged into the wall, rather than the computer itself, now that I think about it. And yes, the original fan was an abomination. I couldn't be in the same room as it it was so loud. Everyone is different when it comes to how much this will bother them, but you sound like you'd appreciate this workaround.