[rkk]

I’ll try to explain and I’d like to hear at least one logical explanation to what happened.

I’m a system moder. I have WD 80GB 7200rpm 8MB HDD. On load his temp gets to 40-45C. I didn’t like it, so I placed an 8cm fan to blow cold room air directly to it. After my system was all cooled down, it had a total of 9 fans (1st and 2nd CPU, HDD, GPU (a big one), HDD rack cooler, 1st and 2nd exhaust and 2 fans on PSU), so it was really noisy.

I started to lower the noise, everything was fine until, I placed huge heatsink on HDD. It was from amplifier (about 0.5 kg). I used Acrylic Sealant to stick it on (it’s something like rubber, but it’s better than air between two plates). Then I placed my heatsink on it, pushed it, some of the Acrylic squeezed out, I cleaned it. It looked just nice.

Time to start testing… but…

Then everything was plugged in, my PC makes 3 beeps and turns of. I can’t even imagine what’s happened. I unplugged HDD- nothing. I started unplugging all the cards I have (which I have a lot- sound card, USB card, 3x RAM and other stuff). I unplugged everything, it was only MB, CPU, GPU and 1x RAM (minimal config to start PC). It was still 3 beeps…

Then I placed everything back in and started thinking then to call my good friend who fixes PCs more professionally than I do. Then everything was placed in, I wanted to listen for those 3 beeps one more time, and you know what… I got 1 beep and my system started…

I can’t find ANY logical explanation to this…

Here goes the second part:

Then my sytem finally started, I wanted to check if my games still works, and… they didn’t. ½ of my HDD was unreadable, I thought now it’s a total melt down… I ran Norton Disk Doctor and it found nothing wrong… restarted windows, everything’s fine.
I think it was the problem of pushing the heatsink, but it doesn’t make any sense.

Now HDD temp is about 30-35 (it was 25 with fan!).

I would like to hear any thoughts about this. I repaired many problems, but I‘ve never seen this.

My full system spec.

AMD Athlon XP 1900+
DFI AK-75AC
WD 80GB 7200rpm 8MB
Geforce 3Ti-200 64MB (overclocked)
3x 128 RAM SDR
Creative SB128
5x USB 2.0 card
430W PSU (all voltages perfect +3.34V, +4.98V, +12.00V)

Sorry for my English

[Xaotic]

First, acrylic sealants are usually good thermal insulators. For HDD cooling, HS can be used, but a thin layer of HS compound is best. Next, where was the HS mounted? If it was mounted the the aluminum portion, using a thin layer(just enough to fill gaps) and the upper labels removed, while not blocking any breather holes, then you may gain some benefit. If the above conditions are not met, then I'd expect a detrimental effect on temps. If it's mounted to the lower portion with the PCBA, then airflow over the PCBA must be maintained as this is essential for cooling the PCBA and the servo. The best way for mounting large HS is to attach them to both sides using a thin layer of HS compound and lapping both the sides of the HDD and the HS. Be careful of breather hole placement, as some units do have them on the sides(if breather holes are on the sides, them lapping the HDD casing is out of the question). Lapping and/or removing labels will void your warranty on the drives, so you may want to consider that prior to starting.

On the boot issue, most likely the "pushing" on the drive may have caused a short in either the connectors or PCBA and when stress relief occurred, the unit returned to functionality. The delay in restarting with the HDD removed may have been similar and cleared as capacitors discharged on the MB. Clearing the BIOS usually accelerates this process.

Drive temperatures of around 40C are relatively normal for non actively cooled drives, as seen here:

http://storagereview.com/php/benchma...0=212&devCnt=1

[rkk]

I don't know temps exactly, because it's hard to measure them.
And I placed HS on the top of HDD aluminum portion without removing any labels. And layer of Acrylic is very thin (less than 0.05mm). It's very hard (and impossible for me) to place HS on the PCB (other side). It isn’t flat (lots of big parts on it) and it is small.

About using HS compound, it's a bit expensive. I can buy 2 more HS for it. And I want my heatsink to sit on the HDD. So something sticky must be used, but I want some possibility to take everything away. Not counting thermal resistance, Acrylic is good.

[germanjulian]

mhh I know on all my hd's it always says
"Do not cover this hole".

did you cover any holes with that heatsink? maybe thats why. but sure is strange.

[rkk]

Then my temps got to 55C after stress test. I took out the HS. And yes, I covered that hole. Now placed heatsink a bit to the left and used Thermal grease. Few hours and everything os stress test and I'll tell you...

[rkk]

I don't realy know the temp, but it's in the 30s. And now no 3 beeps and no unreaddable sectors...

[Quailane]

So it is all fine I presume?

[Dug]

Regarding the 3 beeps. You probably knocked loose (just a little) your video card when messing with your system.

[rkk]

Yes everything is looking fine now. I still have to do a 3 hour stress test.
In the beginning I said that it's 30-35C because it got to this temp after 30min. and to 55C after 3 hours. I haven’t tested this yet, but it feels a colder.

It should be written "Don't do this" at the end of my first mod attempt .

[Sjaak]

Maybe that heatsink was a bit of a magnet actually, and ereased some of your data while sitting like 1cm. away of your spinning platters