Shutting up the Lacie 2Big Quadra with a bit of hacking

WHAT?
I recently purchased a Lacie 2Big Quadra to stand in for the RAID 1 I had in my desktop. The drive works like a charm, and (to me at least) looks very good, it emanates an air of robustness that is underlined by the heft of the thing. It seems very sturdy compared to other drive enclosures I've had and the transfer speed is at the maximum available to me.

WHY?
The noise from it is unbearable though and no answers have come from Google. I decided to have a go at making it shut up. It's pretty easy.
Here is how.
Firstly, this will void the warranty, but since I already voided it by replacing the 1TB drives with 2TB drives I figured what the hell.
Secondly doing it the following way will remove the fan from the case and thereby having you rely on passive cooling only. This will make the drives hotter and possibly unstable. 
Thirdly I only connect to the drive via FireWire 800, it's december and not exactly scorching inside. 
Take these points into consideration and look at this as warning. Doing this may destroy your drive enclosure and drives. 

HOW?

1: Unplug power and any cords connected, let the drives spin down (just let it rest till it stops vibrating/making noise).

2: Remove the drives from the 2Big Quadra by turning the locking mechanisms and gently pulling them. They should slide right out.

3: In each corner of the 2Big Quadras backplate there is a paper disc camouflaged to look like part of the drive, peel them off or just push the screwdriver through, hidden behind them are the screws.

4: Remove the four long screws from each corner of the the backplate. Be aware that these are also the ones that hold the front of the 2Big Quadra in place, so securing the front of it is a good idea.

5: Pull the back plate from the drive enclosure.

6: The fan is in the very top of the 2Big Quadra, just disconnect the cable and pull the fan from the enclosure. It's not glued or screwed in place.

7: Follow the steps pretty much in reverse and presto. Be aware that the screws are annoying, so hold the front of the 2Big Quadra and screw each on in just a bit before properly fastening them.

8: Optional: Replace fan with quieter one like Papst. (http://www.ebmpapst.us/). Though one of the causes for all the racket could be a very poorly designed exhaust opening in the back of the 2Big Quadra.

I've tested mine and it generates no alarming levels of heat - it is very cool. But as mentioned I only use firewire 800 to connect to the drive, using eSATA might mean higher temperatures.

Presto.
Will supply instructional pictures if anyone is interested.

Newest shots

I've been inactive. Here are som recentish shots.

Video shot with 1D Mk IV

Video shot with the Mk IV of the Golf R that I incidentally also have this image of.

Video is great, the quality is great, handling the camera is a different story. Using it for an entire day handheld hurts your fingers. You hold it in a different way to be able to see the screen.So some sort of mount or monopod is recommended. Focusing is pretty easy, but keep the aperture small, constantly looking for focus ruins the shot.
Handling a proper videocamera is easier, but considering the quality and range of lenses you get, I'm pretty happy with it.

Monkey

Monkeys, high iso, shot at between 24 and 70 mm.

Animals

What is this about?

I received my Canon EOS 1D Mark IV after waiting for it for some time.

I was at the time quite ill, so my initial response at getting my new camera was rather controlled. Plus, it's for work, so that puts a dampener on the geargasm too.

I charged the battery and played around with it for a bit, seeing the results jolted me into realizing that I had truly gotten my hands on a very nice camera. Compared to the EOS 1D Mark III and the EOS 1D Mark II (never used the "I" very much) everything just looks better, it seems the light meter is better, the white balance spot on, colours more precise. I never had that experience with the 1D Mark III compared to the II. Before deciding on the Mk IV I'd tried to live with the 5D Mark II, but I just couldn't get the hang of it, I'm too used to the 1D I think.

I'm no techie, so can't really tell you a bunch of stuff about numbers, boring stuff and what not, plus other people on the web are a lot better at that than I am, this is purely my very subjective experience of the camera and how it feels to use every day. The initial response was positive - and still is. Furthermore, any test images and/or videos I upload here will not be pure and unedited pics for your viewing pleasure, they will be edited. Any photo editing you see on this blog will be done using the latest version of Phase One Capture One Pro. If photoshop has been used, I'll make a note of it.

PICS: I did these yesterday. She wanted something not too feely touchy "look I'm pregnant and I cover my breasts and belly"-ish pics, because that's what everyone else gets. I agreed.

Haven't finished them completely, here are three:

Dirty 70'es out of focus.

"

Tiny bit of flash from the right triggered with the built in infrared of the 580'es

Lots of contrast and not much detail.