HDD Cooling needed?

[enz660]

oh ok, awsome! thnx for all the help

 

[IAmMoen]

I have the CoolerMaster Stacker case so I have a lot of space and one interesting thing to work with. It is a little bit of a case that holds 4 harddrives and has a 120mm fan right on the front. The only way to get air through that fan is to pull it right between the 4 drives. Nice and cool.

On the topic of whether it is worth it. Lets think about this. Why on earth would we not spend 15 bucks (on the high side for a pretty lit one) to cool hardware worth anywhere from $50-ALOT! Just seems that even on the off chance that it would only get an extra week out of your drives I would think it would be worth it.

 

[nd4spdbh2]

Heck no not stuck with no fans.. My Sflex is far quieter then either my uber quiet PSU or my hdds (also very quiet.. .no hitachis here)


As for adding a fan to your HDDs..

a) try to seperate them... only way you can say you dont have room is if all your PCI slots are full They sell adapters that let you mount up to 2 HDDS in the PCI area

b) enable SMART and check your drive temps. If they are over 40C then yeah they need some cooling. Technically they need cooling over 30C but its not "necessary" just helps with data security and longevity.

It also depends on the drive type. Perp drives run hotter and need more active cooling then regular drives. Stacking them can lead to 50C temps, definitely not healtthy on a platform that compacts more data into a smaller area.

And lastly YUP

Exactly right Seagates have good warranties, but also are acoustically better performers then the other major brands, they are THE best choice for HTPCs (dont get perps I have 2 in mine.. they need active cooling I dont like anything over 40C in my PC) they are quiet and cool and are built to last. So no worries about dumping 500GB of video. Downside they are also the worst performing of the HDDs (perps excluded),but that is not important on a HTPC. Not sure about temps on them.

Order for generic 7.2 drives

Hitachi FAST and loud
WD Not as fast or loud as hitachi
Seagates, very quiet. But also slow.

(differnces in dba and speed are small so in genrality no drive stands out).

Caveat= the above exclude perp drives and raptors. I am speaking only of general HDD perforamnce..
Also MAxtor is generally a nono except for cheap storage. The Maxline series is the exception. They are outstanding drives (server class).

there are certain almost silent segates that are amazingly fast... the 7200.9 80gb PATA drive is almost inaudible (minus a very small wirrr sound that you get when you spin something at 7200rpm) and seeks are no louder than idle... n e ways the thing will do about 62MB/s average sequential!!! thats 3mb/s less then one my 250gb perp! ... Seagates for the win..

also my perpindicular 250gb hds run no hotter than any of the other hard drives i have... i could see a 750gb running hotter cus theres more mass to spin... but not the 250gb.

As for hd cooling you can pack them close (heck i have 3 in my server that are 1/4 of an inch apart) but they never get over 35*c even though the front intake fan infront of them is a 120mm 800rpm scythe fan runnign at 600rpm so its not pumping out tons of air yet it keeps everything nice and cool...

heres a pic of my latest lil server build (using an older yet silent 60gb seagate... i just made a shelf infront of the front intake... the case is ment to lay on its side... and the hd is rubber mounted!)

Black antec tri cool 120mm up front on low... hd never gets over 35*c

from the back through the pci slots.... hd top, shelf, then front intake and ribbon cables pushed up against the side of the case.

 

[JohnD]

^^^^
Anything below ~50C is fine, and 30-40 is better. So yeah, you're good.

Sorry, but no, he's not doing ok. First of all he's living in Connecticut. Connecticut around this time of year is cold and it also shows when you look at his CPU temp (only 27) and his MB temp, only 30. These are low temperatures. Now look at his hard drives in the shot he took. That is most definitely not optimum cooling, they're both cramped in a little area. Also the whole case has a lot of clutter that badly effects proper airflow. Optimum cooling is descent space under top and bottom of a hard drive and a fan blowing over it. This is however not the case. He's also checking temps under idle. Once he's stressing his his drives he will easily hit high 40's on his 120GB drive. The other drive is lower in temp because it's an old 80GB. Now I hope for him that he has an airco, because room temperatures without airco in his area can easily go up 10 degrees Celsius during summer months so under some stress he'll easily runs in the 50+, which is alarm phase 1.

As for everything below 50c is fine; this is not true. It has been proven that running a hard drive in the 40ties will have a huge effect on the life span of a hard drive.

 

[JohnD]

...of and btw....I'm always amazed to see after looking at some photos on this board how much money people spend on computers and how little they spend on a descent case.

A good example is this thread.... you only have to shake a few of the computers in those shots and I'll bet things come falling down, not to mention the cheap metal, rubber bands, foam insulation, poor airflow, etc.

 

[Immortal_Hero]

I am glad you have such low tems and I am also glad you can contribute such great posts to the cooling section. His HDDs are below 40c they really are fine.

...of and btw....I'm always amazed to see after looking at some photos on this board how much money people spend on computers and how little they spend on a descent case.

A good example is this thread.... you only have to shake a few of the computers in those shots and I'll bet things come falling down, not to mention the cheap metal, rubber bands, foam insulation, poor airflow, etc.

How about you lay off of the members trying to get help here. They are simply providing examples that is no reason to be bashing on them. We are all moders and OCers and we have all used our less than mainstream solutions from time to time that is part of what makes it fun.

 

[hafa]

..of and btw....I'm always amazed to see after looking at some photos on this board how much money people spend on computers and how little they spend on a descent case.

A good example is this thread.... you only have to shake a few of the computers in those shots and I'll bet things come falling down, not to mention the cheap metal, rubber bands, foam insulation, poor airflow, etc.

Our forum has a very wide range of experience and SES represented; please keep in mind that there are many who receive components as gifts and beyond that, must work with what they have. A more constructive approach towards those whose cases are somewhat less than ideal may be to make some specific suggestions for improvement along with a few kind words about things that are done right in the way of encouragement.

In terms of our more exemplary members, I believe that nikhsub1's case would be an exception... Perhaps a new thread in the cases and power supplies section with some pictures of your setup and how you did it would be informative for all...

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I just can't resist: is a "descent" case designed to be used on Mt. Everest? .....


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