will silicone sleeve overheat hard drive in use?

[andrepartthree]

Hi guys ... I'm looking to buy the " Thermaltake BlacX 2.5”/3.5” Sata I/II/III USB 3.0 external Hard Drive Enclosure Docking Station ST0005U " with the esata port on the back.. I know I know, it's a rather old dock compared to the newer stuff out there but the people on the forum for Direct TV (looking to basically attach a hard drive to my DVR for extra space for tv shows recordings ) insist it's the best device for this sort of thing, bar none, based on their previous experience.

Here's my concern... the dock comes with a silicone sleeve presumably to keep dust off it since it's a "bare drive exposed to the air" being a dock (trying to avoid enclosures which the people on the same forum above insist are a headache when you're connecting them to direct TV DVR's and I've experienced the enclosure problem myself personally).

I'm tempted to put the silicone sleeve on there to keep away dust.. but I'm worried about it building up heat on the hard drive since the hard drive is enclosed by the silicon sleeve continuously (the hard drive will be on 24/7 , using a seagate skyhawk hard drive designed for continuous use of that nature)...

Has anyone tried operating a hard drive for long periods of time with a silicone sleeve on it? And if so has it created any problems for you?

Thanks to anyone reading this for your time and attention !

 

[popatim]

The sleeve must have been bundled by the vendor, I know my Blacx didnt come with one.

And to answer your question, I myself would not put the sleeve on. Do you really have that much dust that its a concern for you? I barely get any where I am.

 

[andrepartthree]

thank you so much for your reply popatim (cute baby pic in the profile btw - your munchkin? I have two of my own , they're now close to 16 and 14 years old but I remember those baby days )

You know that's the really strange thing.... according to this review it comes with a thermal sleeve

http://www.legitreviews.com/thermaltake-blacx-5g-hard-drive-docking-station-review_1499

but when I ask sellers about it they're like " what? thermal sleeve? what are you talking about?".. I dunno, some sort of special edition of the dock maybe? ..

I wouldn't describe my house as overly dusty my wife is a neat-freak .. I was just worried because I heard that dust collecting on electronics would be bad for them and the hard drive is exposed since it's sitting outside of the dock ... that and the hard drive would be running 24/7 for years since it's connected via the blackx dock to my dvr... on the other hand I'd be using a seagate skyhawk hard drive which apparently was designed to be highly durable and operate for a long time so maybe it "resists dust" better than normal? .... not sure... (the seagate skyhawk is apparently the "spiritual succcessor" to the seagate pipeline hard drive that originally came installed with the older direct TV boxes like the HR24-200 models I'm using - no thank you to genie 1 or 2 have heard stories about them being an absolute nightmare for direct tv customers they're still working the bugs out.. and apparently seagate skyhawks were designed specifically for dvr-type recording devices)

 

[popatim]

Ahh. thats the St0019 and that sleeve has large ventiallation 'holes' so should be safe to use but do not expext the st0005 to come with it. I had the duet and the single version and neither came with a sleeve.

 

[andrepartthree]

Thanks man now I know the model number I appreciate that ... it looks like that's the usb 3.0 version which, while I hear it's faster/superior to esata, wouldn't be for me given that my "old school" HR24-200 direct tv dvr's work best with an esata port ... darn, wish they sold the silicone sleeves as a separate add-on product ..

Is there some sort of "third party" silicone sleeve you can recommend ? (one that other people have used "safely" on their exposed hard drive)? Although I could be beating the dead horse here though in that you had also mentioned previously that unless one has the hard drive in an area where it gets extremely dusty (which really wouldn't be my house ) getting dust on an "exposed" hard drive isn't that big of a deal to begin with if I understand what you're saying correctly

 

[popatim]

None like that but these Startech's look like they could be an easily modified substitue.
The price sure is right, I might had to try some for myself.

 

[andrepartthree]

None like that but these Startech's look like they could be an easily modified substitue.
The price sure is right, I might had to try some for myself.

 

[andrepartthree]

Okay got it - okay thanks man I really appreciate all your time and attention !

 

[popatim]

Thats what many of us are here for. Trying to help others