Do I need a hard drive cooler?

[Roots]

I am ordering a Seagate 120GB 7200 RPM, and the sales lady asked what cooler I was going to use with it, and I didn't think that hard drives even NEEDED coolers. Do I REALLY need one? I mean, I don't want to buy any more cooling than I need I want my system to be quiet. Thanks

 

[GAZZA]

Most people say you don't need one except for maybe using them for 10krpm+ scsi drives, but I do know that some hard drives run extremely hot to the touch ( IDE included) which IMO can't be all that good for the longevity of the drive.
I would see how warm your drive gets before you decide if you need one or not, depending on the case you have you could mount a fan infront of the drive to create some air flowing across it which would help.

 

[deerslayer]

Do you want to risk 120 gigs to a death by heat? Hard drive cooler's are not that expensive. You decide

 

[Roots]

Don't scare me. I've bought Dell systems for a long time and that never happened, do they come with HD coolers? (the computer I'm using the HD in is not a Dell). I am probably just going to put my intake fan in front of it, that should be sufficient right?

 

[amcdonald]

Ok, you shouldn't consider a HD cooler unless you are uncomfortable with how hot the HD is getting during actual use. (to the touch)
The reason the lady asked you what hard drive cooler you were gonna use is..... She was trying to sell a hard drive cooler.
Either that or she is under the mistaken impression that hard drives typically overheat without a cooler.
The biggest load of crap is that you bought a seagate, presumably since they are the quietest option available, and any store-bought HD cooler is going to be ridiculously loud compared to the HD.
If you plug it in and think its getting too hot, try moving it where air is coming into the case, or intake air over it with a fan.

Edit: I own a 60gb barracuda ata V, and its suspended in elastic wire in a 5 1/4 bay. With nothing but the case airflow it is only warm to the touch.

 

[Gage8]

the best cooling for your hd is to put a case fan in front of it. It is more then sufficient.

 

[RudeBoie]

If hard drive cooling was that big of a problem, they'd come with fans. Simple as that.

Only get one if you think you want it. But definitely NOT required.

 

[Roots]

Thanks for the responses everyone. Yeah I was pretty sure that lady was just trying to throw a sales pitch at me and that hard drives dont need to be cooled usually, but I just wanted to make sure.

And for the record, I wasn't even aware that Seagates were quiet. It was just the cheapest 120GB drive I could find Nice to know though!

 

[idea]

I never had an HDD cooler until about a month ago, when I figured maybe my previous hd's have died (30 and 80gb maxtor 7200rpms, needed to be rma'ed after 1-2 years) because of heat. so i hooked up a fan to my current one, but it's only been installed a month or so, too early to tell.