Hey everyone,
I hope you’re all having a good week. I’m running into a bit of a headache with my home studio setup and figured someone here might have experience with custom hardware.
As I’ve been doing more high-quality recording of live sessions and streams, my storage needs have absolutely exploded. 4K video files are no joke! I reached a breaking point last month when I couldn't find a specific show file across my stack of six different external USB hard drives. It was a chaotic mess of cables and power bricks that I just couldn't deal with anymore.
So, I decided to get serious and consolidate everything. I picked up an external disk shelf and connected it to my editing PC using a SAS-SATA Smart Array P441 controller. The performance is incredible compared to USB—I can actually scrub through timelines without stuttering now, which is a game-changer for my workflow.
However, here is the problem: the noise. Since this gear is designed for server rooms, not quiet studios, the fans are surprisingly loud. I suspect the controller might be reporting temperature data that forces the enclosure fans to spin at 100% constantly. It’s creating a background hum that my microphone is starting to pick up during quiet moments.
Has anyone else here successfully integrated enterprise-grade storage gear like this into a quiet creative space? I am wondering if I should try to replace the fans with quieter consumer ones, or if I should just bite the bullet, buy a longer cable, and physically move the server to the closet in the hallway.
Any tips on soundproofing or cooling modification would be hugely appreciated!
