First things first: Replacing the fan is not that complicated – if you do it carefully, not much should go wrong. Be careful though: Opening the DiskStation will void the warranty. We are not liable for any damage.
How to replace the fan on your DiskStation
First of all, you need the right fan: It is important that is has the right height, width and depth. The stock fan is 92 mm high and wide with a depth of 25 mm. In addition, the new fan must work together with the fan controller of the DiskStation.
For this tutorial, we installed the Noctua NF-B9 redux-1600. This fan is pretty quiet, durable, and delivers more than enough airflow for your DS218.
1. Shut down your DiskStation and wait until it is completely powered off. Then remove the front cover by simply lifting it off.
Then remove the two hard drives from the NAS. Simply push up the lever above the bay and pull the hard drives out of the enclosure on their handles.
2. Then place the DS218 on its side – as shown in the picture below. On the bottom, you will see two “hooks” that hold the enclosure to the DiskStation. These two hooks need to be pried out and the bottom part of the case pushed back. A butter knife or two can be very helpful in this process. This step requires some strength, but you should still use a lot of fingertip feeling.
When the lower part of the NAS has been pushed to the back, you can simply lift off the upper part. This opens the DiskStation.
3. Then loosen all five screws that secure the fan in the device. The small plastic bracket – shown in the lower picture on the top left – also has to be removed.
After that, the fan cover can be taken off.
Now you can disconnect the fan. Normally, the cable is attached with an adhesive tape, which you should remove carefully beforehand.
4. Now place the new fan and screw it into the case together with the screen. Do not forget about the bracket. It has to be fixed with the smaller screw. Then you can plug in the fan.
The cable of your new fan is probably a bit too long – the fan we linked above also has this “problem”. You can simply tuck the excess cable between the hard drive tray and the case. Just make sure that the cable doesn’t get kinked or obstructs the fan’s airflow.
5. Finally, the DiskStation needs to be assembled. Put the two parts back together as seen in step 3 and slide them together. Make sure the case snaps into place at the top and bottom.
