choosing a good harddrive hsf

faye

Platinum Member
Sep 13, 2000
2,109
1
81
Hi,

which is the best or a good way to cool a harddrive?

1. a fan blowing from the bottom of the harddrive?

2. a huge fan mounted on the case and blowing in front?

i do BT alot, so will this help my HD to live longer?

or should i get a heatpipe for HD?
 

DerwenArtos12

Diamond Member
Apr 7, 2003
4,278
0
0
it really depends on teh case and the hard drives. 7200 rpm hard drives newer than 3 or 4 years old don't need it, they just don't. SCSI hard drives 10,000 rpm and above don't need them to work properly but to prolong their life you most certainly can. Raptors almost need some cooling. Especially the older 36gb ones that do not use the same bearings as the new ones and the 74gb ones do.
 

beatle

Diamond Member
Apr 2, 2001
5,661
5
81
The 36GB raptor doesn't get very warm since it's a single platter drive. It's about on par with a normal 7200 rpm drive. The 74GB drive is only 2C warmer. I would go with a low flow 80mm fan blowing on the drive from below if you can afford the space.
 

faye

Platinum Member
Sep 13, 2000
2,109
1
81
i found one that is made for harddrive, that has two little fan(bigger than 80mm each), blowing from the botton or on top depends on where u want.

I touch my drives on the morning, that nite they didn't to anything, they just sit there overnite... but i do feel it is quite hot. however I can still put many hand on it(not burning)but isn't it should be warm or even lower temp because it didn't anything overnite..

wow, if i try to BT at nite, it gets even hotter.
 

pavy

Member
Feb 3, 2003
30
0
0
i have 2x WD 80 GB 7200 RPM SATAs that run pretty much all the time. they have a single 80mm fan blowing directly on them, and whatever else air circulates to them. they are always cool enough to the touch, never hot at all.
 

Falloutboy

Diamond Member
Jan 2, 2003
5,916
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I also am almost reading or righting to my drives and with no fan I can baerly touch them. currently I have a low flow 80mm on them and they get warm but now hot. but this weekend when I install eater cooling :D I'm going to be modding the front of my chieftec to take a couple 120mm so thier will be tons of air going thru thier
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
19
81
My secondary system has an 80mm fan mounted to the front, over two 5.25" bays, blowing over the two hard drives housed there - no heatsinks needed. It was a custom job though - I sliced out the hole for the fan in the two blank plates that normally fit in an empty bay on the case, and then screwed a fan to it.

My main system uses this for its hard drive, without the fans. Even then, the drive runs cooler than without any heatsink at all. It's not frigid, but you won't fry an egg (or finger) on it anymore.