are hard drive external cases okay for long term like a desktop?

[Zee]

are they meant for short term use only? because my pc stays on 24/7 and the case with a 250GB harddrive is pretty burning hot. Can they stay on long term just like the pc? Or I have to get one with the fan?

 

[iRONic]

Ouch... High temp is going to lead to degraded data integrity and will shorten the life expectancy of the drive.

If you must leave it on 24/7 get a 5.25" enclosure with a fan. If it's just a storage drive turn that sucker off.

 

[Golflad]

Depends ... just because the case is warm does not mean the hd is burning Hard Drives are pretty resilient most can stand temps of 60+ C before it becomes an issue you could simply add a fan on top or put he hd in your case.....

 

[essasin]

Does your external case have fans? If not I would suggest to turn it on only when you need it.

 

[imported_rod]

Originally posted by: Golflad
Depends ... just because the case is warm does not mean the hd is burning Hard Drives are pretty resilient most can stand temps of 60+ C before it becomes an issue you could simply add a fan on top or put he hd in your case.....

CPU's can withstand 60C. HDD's should be good to 80C.

Still, i would turn if off when you don't need it. If it's intended for permanent 24/7 use, install it in your case or get an external enclosure with a fan.

RoD

 

[jlbenedict]

Also, consider the fact that most likely an external hard drive isn't spinning constantly, such as a desktop hard drive, which I would like to think is more in use than a drive that is in an external enclosure.