Hot Hard Disks?

[Terak]

Hello Group!

I just installed a second HD on my PIII - 650 and as I was messing around with the sound card I was startled to find out that my hard drives were very hot! I could barely keep my fingers on it for more than 5 seconds. I only have 3 small drive bays (2 HD, 1 Floppy) so I removed my floppy and spread the HD's out to give more space.

Another potential solution is use a drive mount and put one HD in a large bay that is still free between my 2 CD-ROM drives.

Is a hot HD a serious problem? What is the best method of dealing with this situation?

Thanks for the help,
Terak

 

[Guest]

>>I removed my floppy and spread the HD's out to give more space.<<

A temporary solution for a permanent problem. And you have no floppy.

>>Another potential solution is use a drive mount and put one HD in a large bay that is still free between my 2 CD-ROM drives.<<

This may help the problem a bit and may even solve it some, but it does not eliminate what's probably causing it.

>>Is a hot HD a serious problem?<<

So hot that you can barely touch it? Most assuredly.. you are just asking for a drive to fail prematurely.

>>What is the best method of dealing with this situation?<<

I don't know what drive it is. I'll assume it's an IDE. There is no reason why the majority of even 7200 RPM IDE drive should require active cooling. Therefore I would say you have poor ventilation in your case. Enough air is not being pulled and sucked out to remove the heat that is building. As an example, I run some older SCSI drives that can run very hot and have some strict concerns with proper ventilation in the case. I've at times while workin inside it left the case off.. forgetting about these drives. It's not long before I happen to touch one and realize hey I'm about to kill one of these as it so hot to the touch it nearly burns your flesh. I'm surprised they've kept working. But with the case on (a tower with 3 exhaust and 1 pushing in which you don't need that much), they are cool to the touch slightly above room temperature at best.

If you have a p/s fan pushing out, an extra fan pushing out, and a fan pulling air in, this should be more than efficient to cool the system with the cables tied together to increase air flow in the system. I would think you would be ok with one pulling air in and the p/s pushing air out, but this depends on the particular drives and periphs you are running.






***Hey I run Intel... but let's get real***

 

[Crashman]

Heat buildup is a big problem, especially when your drive has very little space above it. It will kill your hard drive eventually. Put it in a large bay if possible, or at least make sure there is some space above it.

Suicide is painless...........