Where is the best place to place a NAS? I've set up the weak current box, TV cabinet, and study before. Once the accounts are settled, I won't dwell on it anymore

Last month, I moved my N100 dual-drive Feiniu to the living room TV cabinet, waited for two weeks, and then moved back to the study. I covered this in the about whether WiFi could be connected to NAS. After all this fussing, the question I asked most in the comments was actually another question: Where exactly should I place the NAS at home?

this question may seem casual, but it's actually the first serious decision after buying a NAS. If placed incorrectly, it can cause nighttime noise and insomnia, or a severe case of long-term overheating and shortening the hard drive's lifespan. I've listed all the candidate spots within reach at home, and this article will lay out the numbers and make the numbers clear.

don't measure the size yet; the three bills already settled on most of the

Before choosing a

location, first think about the differences between a NAS and a router. The router can be plugged anywhere because it has no mechanical parts, low power consumption, and at most a reboot if it breaks. The NAS has two mechanical drives on its body, powered 24 × 7, so its positioning requirements are three things:

first point is noise. mechanical drive is quiet when idle, and whenever read/write is needed, it clicks 'click-tap' to search for data. My 4TB Cool Wolf is just over 20 dB on standby, and 26 to 30 dB when searching—at this level, you can't hear it during the day, and at night the background is only 25 or 26 dB, which is a clear noise source.

second step is heat dissipation. the consensus in the hard drive community is that a disk temperature of 30 to 45 degrees is most comfortable, while failure rates above 50 degrees over long periods significantly increase. With every degree higher in ambient temperature, the drive temperature rises accordingly, so the temperature around the NAS directly determines how good the hard drive's life is.

third entry is power outage. NAS most feared not the power outage itself, but the power falling halfway through the writing board. Location determines where to place the UPS, whether the outlets are sufficient, and whether family members can easily unplug the power. These three small things don't matter with other devices, but on NAS, they're all hidden dangers.

besides these three items, there's another hidden story: the link to to the TV. NAS's main daily use is feeding TV tapes. Whether the display is close to the TV has little to do with smooth playback — more on that later.

weak current box: All the network cables are here, but I was the first to unplug them

Last year, I replaced the weak current box at home with a 40x30 large box, and while packing, I seriously considered putting the NAS inside. On the surface, it looks like a perfect match: all the network cables are gathered inside the box, and once plugged in, it's wired. Once the door is closed, you can't hear anything, and it doesn't take up an inch outside. A small machine like the N100 was more than enough to fit in after measuring its size.

what made me give up was a number. In summer, I measured it with a thermometer, and the low-voltage box at home could reach 45 degrees Celsius—inside was just a fiber modem and a switch. Combined with the NAS's own heat generation, the disk temperature easily broke 50 degrees. This thermal mechanical drive is built on its lifespan, and the hard drive is the most valuable part of a NAS—a broken drive could buy half a NAS.

besides heat, the weak current box has several other frustrating issues: the sockets inside are already tight, the optical modem and switch each have one POE power supply, the NAS power adapter is squeezed in, and plugging and unplugging is done blindly; To plug in and unplug the network cable or glance at the indicator light, you have to squat at the door to dig it out; It takes three to four minutes to reboot the NAS after a power outage, and putting it in the box is a hassle every time.

if there's really no space at home, you can only install a weak current box. Stick to four things: replace the lid with a cooling vent, avoid stacking your NAS with the optical modem, keep the drive space under two units, and keep an eye on the drive temperature during the hottest summer months. But I'll be clear—if you can avoid clogged drives, don't. This position is trading hard drive lifespan for cleanliness.

TV cabinet: The shortest playback link, I still moved out after two weeks

living room TV cabinet is the second spot I seriously tried, during the two weeks last month. It has a real benefit: when the TV is plugged directly into the NAS and under the same switch, SMB direct playback is very stable, and the 4K original disc can be dragged without buffering. If your TV's network port is 100Mbps, check the article in advance about whether TV is connected to WiFi or plugged into a network cable don't let the NAS get stuck right next to the TV port.

But after two weeks, three problems persuaded me to leave.

First, the commotion at night. I'm used to letting download tasks run late at night, so the bandwidth is left empty. Once the study door closed, you could barely hear anything. The living room was different—at night, the living room floor was even lower than the bedroom. The mechanical drive's sound of searching for the way was heard clearly from the sofa, and as soon as the family paused their late-watching TV shows, the "click" sound would come out.

second, most TV cabinet cabinets have boards on three sides, which is similar to weak current boxes, just one size larger. I compared it with a thermometer, and the NAS in the TV cabinet is about seven or eight degrees higher than on an open bookshelf—it's even tougher in summer.

third, uncontrollable human factors. In the second week, the house was thoroughly cleaned; the power strip was moved, the NAS lost power but came back on, over 200 seed tasks on qBittorrent were collectively re-checked, and the hard drive read all night. The pain of the conservation group. I wrote thoroughly in my about the download device. The living room is much more likely to be in the living room than in the study; the TV cabinet is the most frequently organized and moved part of the family.

bedroom: unless it's a full solid-state state, don't even think about it

someone puts a NAS by the bedside for the convenience of 'sending a picture before bed,' I advise you: bringing a mechanical NAS into the bedroom is basically like putting an alarm clock at the bedside with random rings.

late at night, the bedroom floor is only 25 to 6 decibels, while the mechanical disc seeks 26 to 30 decibels, just pressing down on the base, coming in waves, much more uncomfortable than continuous noise. Some people say if I turn on the hard drive's sleep mode, it gets quieter—sleep is actually torture in the bedroom. Once the drive falls asleep, I casually tap the photo album on my phone, and with a buzz, it spins again, waking you up twice in the second half of the night; Moreover, waking up by a stolen drive after sleep failure is a common issue with NAS. I wrote about the troubleshooting method in the of hard drive sleep. When someone lives in the bedroom, you have to worry about whether it sleeps or not.

the only exception is the fanless all-solid-state small machine: no mechanical drive, no fan, no sound when powered on, can even be placed on a bedside cabinet, but the cost per TB keeps skyrocketing, making it suitable as a second machine, not a main power storage unit.

Study Corner: My final answer is that all four things must be combined

moving back to the study isn't just about making do; it's the optimal solution after the accounts are settled. There's a corner in my study, separated from the bedroom by a wall. The bookshelf is open for ventilation, and there are four sockets in a row, which you can pick any you like. Choosing it brings together four things:

the first piece: link and position decoupling. NAS in the study, the TV in the living room, and the network cable runs through the wall: from the study to the weak current box, from the weak current box to the TV wall, all gigabit cable. I drew this topology in the of home networking. Gigabit wired SMB running at 110MB/s tested results in 4K original disc bitrates of only tens of megabytes, with less than 10% loss on the road—in other words, where the NAS is placed has nothing to do with the TV playback experience, as long as the network cable is connected. this is something many people have overlooked.

second, UPS has a place to accompany you. Next to the NAS is its dedicated UPS, which can shut down safely for over forty minutes during a power outage. I included the power meter for this setup in the of the NAS UPS section. The UPS is quite large, the weak current box can't fit inside, the TV cabinet looks unsightly, and the study corner is just right.

third, electricity bills are visible. N100 dual-plate light load 17W drive at around 150 kWh per year, costing only a few dozen yuan per year. The bill details are in the electricity bill section. Equip it with a metering socket; once the position is fixed, the socket is meaningful. Moving it around makes the electricity bill incomparable.

the fourth item, placement itself is important. don't tuck it deep into the cabinet; leave a fist away from the wall for cooling; Don't put it directly on the floor—summer mopping can damage the circuitry; Don't stack the heaters like amplifiers and set-top boxes—each occupies a layer for stability. My car has a wooden partition under it, 30 cm off the ground, and the Chinese New Year's Eve temperature is seven or eight degrees Celsius—comfortable.

Once the position is set, don't rush to finish it—here are four cleanup actions

After

position is set, there are four small tasks to do at once, and after that, you basically don't need to worry about it afterwards:

First, record the base temperature of the disk. Check the backend and record the temperature of two drives in your phone's notes. From then on, check every quarter and see if it stays above 45°C for a long time, it's a problem with the position or fan. This judgment is based on the SMART list from the new hard drive inspection article. If you really notice abnormal noises on the drive, don't delay. The five warning signs of a bad drive are in this article. Back up first.

Second, the UPS should undergo a power disconnection drill every six months to see if it can withstand safe shutdown times. The battery will degrade almost completely after about three years, so replace it if necessary.

third, all line labels. It's easiest to unplug the wrong cable when relocating the NAS. Attach "NAS," "TV," and "Main Router" on both ends of the network cable. Just follow the article on the weak current box for organizing the weak current box.

fourth, if you really need to move the wheel, shut down the machine in the background before moving—don't mind the hassle—moving with electricity is the biggest taboo for mechanical drives, as it damages the disk more than any high temperature.

wrap up with a fitting answer: if your family has a private study or workspace, choose with your eyes closed—have all four essentials; For small apartments, there's no choice: TV cabinet > weak current box. At least the TV cabinet is well-ventilated and bright, which can fix the situation. Renters like NAS follow the crowd—buy a small machine to put on your desk, making moving easier; The bedroom, except for the all-solid-state system, is different.

to wrap things up: first check if the study or corner has outlets and network ports. If not, pick one from the TV cabinet or weak current box and follow the remedial checklist, skipping the bedroom; Once the position is set, immediately do four cleanups, then check the market temperature once every quarter from now on.