Harddrive Cooling

[Steven21]

I plan on upgrading soon, 1 of the things i plan
on getting is a new HD. I still havent decided rather to get a PATA or an SATA HD. My question Is should i Have
some kind of Cooling device for my HD no mater what type
of HD i get. Ive heard that SATA HD's run hotter then PATA HD's is that True?

 

[papasmurf]

a cooling device helps stability especially in hotter drives like the satas with high rpms but they are not nessecary. if the platters expand too much from heat even a microscopic ammount can cause trouble but most modern hard drives have ways of compensating for higher temperature/platter expansion. If you are going to buy a deskstar deffinately get a hdd cooler of some kind or just place a fan over it at least those drives are finiky

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[elzt]

Although HD coolers do help to lower the temperature of HD's and hence might extend their lifes a bit, you really don't need them if your case is well ventilated. Active coolers with fans on them are just another source of noise.

 

[unoc]

It depends on room temperature, intended as the temperature of the internal of the case, and consequently on the presence of case fan(s). Consider that the external surface of a hdd not cooled normally takes no more that 20 °C over the room temperature (if the room temperature is about 35÷40 °C, the hdd could work at its limit). If cooled (a small fan in front of the hdd), the hdd takes no more that 3÷5 °C over the room temperature.
I normally provide a cooling system for my hdds, just realised using an old fan (normally quieter). The noise introduced is just nothing but I feel myself more guarateed about the data into the hdd.

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[Steven21]

thanks for the help guys

 

[lhgpoobaa]

most of the time with modern IDE drives passive cooling is sufficient, except in extremes of ambient temps or many drives sandwitched together.

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[unoc]

Agreed. Unfortunately the so many raid controller actually spread into modern computers lets frequently to have "sandwitched" hdd.
(I am preparing an aluminum box with three 80mm fans for a set of 8 hdd)

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[SoopahMan]

Is there a cooling solution you'd recommend for this sandwiched scenario, if it's unavoidable? I have 2 3.5" drives sitting 1/2" top to bottom (contained in a fairly heat-conductive drive cage), and I suspect they're running too hot.

 

[sjonnie]

Cases like the Xaser III or Casetek CS-1018 series mount their harddrives side on infront of two case fans in just such a sandwich scenario. I have 6 7200 rpm harddrives mounted there in RAID arrays. The surface temperature of a drive in the middle is around 36C with both fans running at relatively low speed (2000rpm).

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