Who cools their Hard Drives

[s_kinton]

Ive got 4 drives, split across 2 of the CM stacker 3in1 modules. Each has a 120mm fan blowing onto it. It made a noticeable dfference to temps.

[rox0r]

To be honest I'm more bothered about the heat dissipating into the case from the hard drives and subsequently raising ambient temps than the actual consequences of allowing the drive to become hot. Hence why I use drive enclosures outside the case, I find it works especially well for me since I use a Shuttle.

[mr mister]

depends what case you have, if the heard drives had very little flow and they were reaching 55C+ i would use an extra fan but in my lian li v1000 cooling is adequate for the hdd's

[Mad-Max]

I just let my case fans cool them down.

[Zak33]

its neck and neck....

38 do
37 don't......amazing! Load of tech heads, only half with cooled HDD's and apparently those warm ones aren't dying anywhere near as often as I'd expect!

[Trash Man]

I've never actively done anything special to cool my HDD's but with my CM Stacker I do as they have a fan in the HDD caddy.

[Tarffie]

I voted No, but I don't think I fully understood the question. My harddrives are cooled by the intake fan, as it's right in front of the HD cage, so the air flows right through and takes the heat out of either exhaust (top and rear). I haven't got anything for cooling JUST the harddrives though.

[Sema4]

I have 8 drives in my stacker, 2 of them are Raptor's in RAID, after the computer has been on for 10 or 15 minutes, the Raptors will literally burn you if you touch them (as I discovered when I forgot to reconnect my fan to the fan controller)

The Raptors specification page on the Western Digital website located here, states they can run up to 55c or 131F and remain within specification, and all things considered, that's pretty hot...

Probably fine if you have a single drive without cooling, it wouldn't be my choice personally, but it's probably within the operating tolerance of the drive. If however, you have multiple drives in close proximity running without cooling, then I'm reasonably confident that your going to be running them out with the manufacturers specification.

Furthermore, if your not running with any hard drive cooling, then you are going to have a block of metal at anything up to 55 degrees C inside your computer case and Im not sure I like the idea of that personally. Consider what that's going to do to your ambient case temperature, and bear in mind that the ambient air is the same air that you are relying on keeping your CPU, GPU and RAM cool... food for thought ?

[amjedm]

In my own computers I cool the hard drives as a low speed fan doesn't add to the noise IMO and is better for the hard drives.

Computers built for others - most have HD cooling but a few don't.

[Zak33]

Do: 42
Dont: 41

[Nemz0r]

Now I know how you got 17,000 posts Zak!

[Thorsson]

Hmm. I added a fan to the front of case which blows over the HDDs. But it also helps the general airflow... I voted do, but it could have been don't.

[[GSV]Trig]

My drives sit behind the intake fans on the front of my case...

P180 wtf

[amjedm]

My drives sit behind the intake fans on the front of my case...

P180 wtf

Why not put them in the lower chamber?

[[GSV]Trig]

I have 2 drives in the 3.5" bays and 4 more in the lower bay

[mightymouse]

i've seen the difference between cooling and no hard drive cooling solutions