De-coupled Hard-Drives in a 3 1/2" Bay

[Bluefront]

Hard to do successfully...I know. This setup solves the problem perfectly for me. Many cases are made this way, with a 3.5" hard drive cage that goes to the bottom of the case. With a setup like this you can de-couple at least three drives from the case with a minor amount of hassle, and not use up a 5.5" bay.

The pictures tell the story. One 4x10" copper plate cut in two pieces, holes drilled in four corners for rubber bushings, mount holes drilled for the hard drives, one section cut out of the original hard drive cage, mount holes drilled to mount the new cage. With this setup the entire copper cage and drives are rubber mounted. The drives can then be removed separately as you would with the stock setup, leaving the new copper cage attached to the case.

It works. I used this new setup with some older noisy maxtor drives, which made loud seek noises in the stock setup. Quiet as a pin now. As a benefit you get two large copper heatsinks....

De-coupled Hard Drives

 

[EeyoreX]

As a benefit you get two large copper heatsinks....

Well... Except for the little issue of the most heat coming from the top or bottom of the drive, the minimal surface area on the side of the drive won't really help... It does look nice though And if it keeps drives quiet, that's great too! I personally, don't notice any vibration noise from my hard drives...

\Dan

 

[BG4533]

Originally posted by: EeyoreX

As a benefit you get two large copper heatsinks....

Well... Except for the little issue of the most heat coming from the top or bottom of the drive, the minimal surface area on the side of the drive won't really help... It does look nice though And if it keeps drives quiet, that's great too! I personally, don't notice any vibration noise from my hard drives...

\Dan

You might not notice vibrations when the drive is spinning, but when it accesses the drive there is usually a lot of noise and vibration. Decoupling the drive helps reduce this, often a lot.

 

[DerwenArtos12]

I would rather see something like this done for my loud CD-RW drives.

 

[EeyoreX]

As a benefit you get two large copper heatsinks....

Well... Except for the little issue of the most heat coming from the top or bottom of the drive, the minimal surface area on the side of the drive won't really help... It does look nice though And if it keeps drives quiet, that's great too! I personally, don't notice any vibration noise from my hard drives...

\Dan

You might not notice vibrations when the drive is spinning, but when it accesses the drive there is usually a lot of noise and vibration. Decoupling the drive helps reduce this, often a lot.

No, see, you must not have understood me, if you feel the need to correct my impression of not hearing my drive. I said that I personally can not hear my drive. That means I can't hear them when they are spinning, and I can't hear them when they are being accessed. I am aware of the potential benefits of decoupling one's drives. I am not aware of how my drives can get any less quiet than "I can't hear them"...

\Dan

 

[Bluefront]

Many people have demonstrated that heaksinks on the sides of drives are of great benefit. With this setup you could also add a copper heatsink to the hottest part (the bottom). A perferated copper plate screwed to the mount points of the bottom of the drive, extending out toward the center of the case, would give increased heat transfer. My HD temps with this setup are 35-38c, so I probably won't go any further with heatsinks.

Hard-mounting drives directly to the case does transfer sounds/vibrations into the frame. If you are sensitive to noise, you'll hear it for sure. Some drives are quieter than others, but the older maxtors I used here were very noisy before this setup. Now I cannot hear them, nor can I feel vibrations on the case.