Hard Drive Coolers...Practical?

[CubicZirconia]

I have been looking around at Hard Drive coolers of different varieties and am beginning to wonder whether or not any of these are practical. I have a 7200 rpm maxtor hdd. I see that some of them have a couple of fans blowing on the hdd and a couple more pulling air from outside the case. So, are hdd coolers really worth it? If so, what do you reccomend?

 

[FlowerMan]

7200+ RPM HDs should be actively cooled, IMO. SCSI drives definitely need to be cooled. I use 2 Cooler Master 4002's @ 7V.

 

[jonmcc33]

7200RPM hard drives don't need direct cooling on them. As long as you have good air flow throughout your case you should be fine.

I've seen nice cases like the Lian Li PC7 that allow you to install hard drives directly behind two 80mm intake fans and that's real good.

 

[SnowPunk98]

ive done 2 hard drive cooler reviews, OCModShop check them out. I agree with FLOWERMAN I think you should cool 7200 and SCSI

 

[mechBgon]

What brand/model of case do you have?

 

[gaidin123]

In my experiences with IDE and SCSI drives over the years, the higher RPM 7200 and higher SCSI drives can definitely benefit from active cooling though with the 7200 ones it may not be a strict requirement. I had a few Micropolis old school 5.25" full height 9GB SCSI drives a few years back that got very hot to the touch after running for a few days in a pretty small area with only decent ventilation. All of them also died within 2 years but they were crappy refurbs.

With IDE drives you really don't need to actively cool them. I have my IBM75gxp <don't die on me again please> 30gig drive placed in one of those SilentDrive enclosures which completely covers up the drive in foam insulation, plastic, and a couple metal plates meant to conduct heat out. It's been in there for somewhere around 8 months and SpeedFan hasn't shown it to get above 40C (55C is the max for the drive).

Does anyone else here use SpeedFan to get the SMART temp readings from their hard drive(s)? If they're accurate readings it seems to me that more people would be using that program.

Gaidin

 

[CubicZirconia]

Actually I soon will have a lian li pc 65 usb, which does blow air onto the hdd. So I suppose that extra cooling isn't necessary? The case will have 2 intake fans on the front, 2 on the back after I cut another one, as well as 2 pci slot coolers.

 

[FlowerMan]

The PC65 is similar to the PC60, right? If so, it has 2 80's on the back and 2 in the front. You will not need any PCI slot fans. You should not have them because they will create negative pressure in your case.

I have 3 Seagate 10K RPM 36XL 36GB drives in a PC70 (office server) cooled with the dual Papst 80mm's in the front. Keeps everything nice and cool, but kind of restricts intake, so that's why I added a 120mm Papst to the case door. I also have 4 Papst exhausts on the back. Airflow is neutral - to - slightly positive.

 

[SaigonK]

In most cases hard drive failure can be attributed to excessive heat.
Stick two of your 7200 rpm drives on to of each other for a little while and see how hot they get! If i stack my 2 IBM 45gig raid drives on top of each other for a good 30 minutes, i can heat my home for a week!

Definietly cool those bad boys off if you can, It sucks that to get decent cooling you have to use up a 5.25 bay but if you want to do the right thing..then you should buy one!

 

[pbrain]

When 7200rpm HDD's were relatively new, I had HDD failure due to excessive heat. Active cooling should be considered, though in a case with good ventilation and air flow a HDD cooler isn't necessary. I mount all my HDD's in front of the front intake fan(s), as I don't like using HDD coolers due to the added noise.