Install hard drives backwards to help cooling and hide wires?

[dizasta]

Hey guys. I was wondering if anyone has any experience installing hard drives with the connectors facing the front of the case in a case such as a chieftec full tower that uses drive bays. What I am thinking about doing is cutting a notch in the drive cage on the inside so the cables can have a way out. This way I can tuck all my cables on the other side of the cage to help airflow and the overall look of the case.

I installed the drives as you see above because I did not know how hot they would get if I stacked them one on top of the other. Neither one is coming close to running hot at the moment so I plan on moving them both up to the first 3.5 cage and removing the cage they are currently in to improve airflow.

 

[clocker2]

It's hard to tell from the pic exactly how you have the drives installed.
Moving them to the upper bay would allow for shorter cables which would help a bit, I suppose.
Can't really see the point in reversing them, but far be it from me to discourage innovation, so what the heck...give 'er a try.

 

[Silversinksam]

Hey guys. I was wondering if anyone has any experience installing hard drives with the connectors facing the front of the case in a case such as a chieftec full tower that uses drive bays. What I am thinking about doing is cutting a notch in the drive cage on the inside so the cables can have a way out. This way I can tuck all my cables on the other side of the cage to help airflow and the overall look of the case.

I installed the drives as you see above because I did not know how hot they would get if I stacked them one on top of the other. Neither one is coming close to running hot at the moment so I plan on moving them both up to the first 3.5 cage and removing the cage they are currently in to improve airflow.

Sure you could install them with the wires to the front, some people install them vertically when they do hdd window mods.

As far as moving the drives up to the upper drive cage, obviously this will increase the hdd temps as there will be less airflow over the drives, with that said I have my drives in the upper drive cage due to the Radiator I employ in the spot where your hdd's are now.

What I did is move the drives to the upper drive and I cool them with These. They are wired to run at a silent 7 volts, I also blocked the air path with a piece of black duct tape so all the air flows out to the middle of the case.

 

[crull]

Hey guys. I was wondering if anyone has any experience installing hard drives with the connectors facing the front of the case in a case such as a chieftec full tower that uses drive bays. What I am thinking about doing is cutting a notch in the drive cage on the inside so the cables can have a way out. This way I can tuck all my cables on the other side of the cage to help airflow and the overall look of the case.

I installed the drives as you see above because I did not know how hot they would get if I stacked them one on top of the other. Neither one is coming close to running hot at the moment so I plan on moving them both up to the first 3.5 cage and removing the cage they are currently in to improve airflow.

That seems like a good idea, You could also mount a fan in the empty cage blowing towards the rear exhaust fan. It might help to move the warm air from the video card and the cpu towards the rear exhaust fan. Just an idea.
If you move the 2 drives in the picture with the same space to the upper cage that should be plenty of space between them for airflow.
I have 2 Maxtor drives one thats a 7200 and the other is 5400 rpm's. They are right on top of each other and have been that way for a while now. Never had any problems, but space is always better if you can do it. Also if your case has good airflow it probably doesn't matter that much.
You could also take one of the drives and make a custom holder and stand it near the window vertically, flat against the window. The cable connection would be at the top. I did that, it won't block any air from the front fan. The front fan also blows cool air right past it. I'm not using it yet though that will be for a SATA drive so I can have 3 drives in my system which usually can only hold 2.

 

[dizasta]

Re: Re: Install hard drives backwards to help cooling and hide wires?

Sure you could install them with the wires to the front, some people install them vertically when they do hdd window mods.

As far as moving the drives up to the upper drive cage, obviously this will increase the hdd temps as there will be less airflow over the drives, with that said I have my drives in the upper drive cage due to the Radiator I employ in the spot where your hdd's are now.

What I did is move the drives to the upper drive and I cool them with These. They are wired to run at a silent 7 volts, I also blocked the air path with a piece of black duct tape so all the air flows out to the middle of the case.

How much of an increase will I see in HDD temps by moving them to the top bay, under the FDD, stacked on top of one another? I currently have 2 80mm intake fans (one under the bottom cage and one in the bottom cage blowing over the HDDs) and the top mounted HD, the maxtor, is the only one of the two with a temp sensor. It currently hovers around 20°C. What I am after is eliminating the clutter of rounded IDE cables you see in the pic by stuffin em all beside the drive bays. That way, both 80mm intakes get a clear shot at the CPU and vid card.

 

[clocker2]

Dizasta,
No way to guestimate what your temps may become.. Probably rise a bit since you're losing the benefits of direct airflow from the front fans.

I think you are being way generous in your belief that the two 80mm front fans are going to do a whole lot for your CPU/vid card. Unless they are real screamers I doubt that they are moving an airstream much past the halfway point of your case. Any air that does manage to make it back there is also prewarmed to case ambient anyway.

 

[Sp1k3]

clocker is trying to say that front fan dont do much, quit frankley i wouldnt buy fron fans. but it looks like it is too late. but it would be very cluttered up there in the upper cage. and clutter creates heat pockets, and little airflow. i would keep HDs by some fans, with not to much clutter near them

 

[clocker2]

i would keep HDs by some fans, with not to much clutter near them

If the mountain won't go to Mohammad...
I'm a advocate of configuring fans to do what you want, not hoping that "airflow" will solve your problem.
My HDD cooling solution...

 

[voodoomelon]

I say, leave the HD's where they are, my 2x 7200rpms are in the same bay as yours with an 80mm, and they are the perfect temperature.
Like Sp1k3 said, moving them up just creates clutter, and half of your reason to move them is to make it look good, right? They wouldn't look good...

 

[Ffats]

If the mountain won't go to Mohammad...
I'm a advocate of configuring fans to do what you want, not hoping that "airflow" will solve your problem.
My HDD cooling solution...

Good lord... have you ever thought that was just a little overkill?
But hey, whatever floats your boat.

 

[Silversinksam]

Good lord... have you ever thought that was just a little overkill?
But hey, whatever floats your boat.

Hehe, I had to look at that twice, hey... I guarantee his hdd wont die from Overheating

 

[alpha_gamer]

Is HDD heat really a problem? I've never heard of anyone losing a HDD because of heat.

 

[Silversinksam]

Is HDD heat really a problem? I've never heard of anyone losing a HDD because of heat.

It's usually never a problem if the case has sufficient airflow, one example of poor airflow are these external drive cages, the hdd's inside have been known to fail up to 50% faster, what I do is to dremmel a 40mm sqr. fan outlet to the 'door' and add a small 40mm 2nd fan (running at a silent 7 volts) to the other side, this cools the drive significantly

 

[clocker2]

Good lord... have you ever thought that was just a little overkill?
But hey, whatever floats your boat.

Of course it's overkill.
It is an experiment.
All of the cooling concerns seem to center around the CPU ( rightly so I guess) and more recently the video cards, and I have noticed that HDDs can get rather warm also.
So I started playing around with some extra cooling components and this is where I ended up.
My HDD never exceeds ambient case temp by more than 1 degC.
Usually less.
Is this necessary?
Probably not.
Is half the stuff we do to our computers necessary?

 

[alpha_gamer]

Is half the stuff we do to our computers necessary?

Due to my lack of common sense and pathetic reasoning skills, I say YES!

 

[DoubleJ8]

Is having a vertical HDD OK?

 

[clocker2]

Is having a vertical HDD OK?

As far as I know HDD are not position sensitive.
I haven't had any trouble in the 4-5 months that I've been running like this, but I realize that's not a very long test period....

 

[PCluva]

Is having a vertical HDD OK?

A HDD can be placed in any position, just make sure it is surcure