Hard Drive Too Hot Cooler Advice Please

happyhero

Hi My Pc has played up a little lately and I found that the HD is getting quite hot up to 56 degrees and hot to touch. I opened the PC and cleaned it out and I am thinking of getting a cooler, but what do I look for, there seems a lot of choice, ie noise level, rpm, air movement, any particular make etc?

They seem to have 2 fans on them mostly, is this the norm?

How do they fit?

How much room do they need?

Any help appreciated with what to look for or which one to get and why?

Poppycat

What I did was this.

I bought some cheap pc fans from Ebuyer for another job last year, computer stores should sell them cheap no more than a £1. I had some spare for later as they were sold dead cheap. I have 3x 5 1/4 cd/dvd bays at front of case. I opened case and stuck a fan under the dvd drive which is directly above the hard drive. The hard drive was very hot at times but now its cool. I stuck the fan with some glue from a glue gun and air from the fan is blowing diretcly abive teh hard drive. Cost about 50p in all

Browntoa

try this

http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

niceguyrichy

how much system cooling does your comp have in the first place??

If the inside of the comp doesn't have adaquate through-flow to start with, even if you add a hdd cooler, all it will do is blow the hot air in the case onto your hdd.
which is silly.

A well ventilated case with adaquate system fans generally shouldn't require a hdd cooler, so that should be what you look at first

Poppycat

I use that speedfan that's what got me concerned about the temperature of one hard drive

I have also have an exhaust fan blow air out of case, I cant fit a fan at the front although my other computer has two internal fans in front of case using a Lian li case. That system is always cool due to the amount of fans.

ktuludays

The best option is to have an intake fan at the front (cool air in) and an exhaust fan at the back (warm air out). this will ensure a nice steady through flow of cool air.

Poppycat

Thats true ktuludays but it aint always possible depending on case.

Its also good to keep the ide or sata cable tidy to aid air flow and keep the hd further apart if you can to leave a space for air to circulate

happyhero

Poppycat wrote:

What I did was this.

I bought some cheap pc fans from Ebuyer for another job last year, computer stores should sell them cheap no more than a £1. I had some spare for later as they were sold dead cheap. I have 3x 5 1/4 cd/dvd bays at front of case. I opened case and stuck a fan under the dvd drive which is directly above the hard drive. The hard drive was very hot at times but now its cool. I stuck the fan with some glue from a glue gun and air from the fan is blowing diretcly abive teh hard drive. Cost about 50p in all

so you are saying that the cheap ones are good enough for the job, but are they very noisy? The reason I ask is that my PC is very very quiet, it was one of the boasts when I bought it, so I would like to keep it like that.

niceguyrichy wrote:

how much system cooling does your comp have in the first place??

If the inside of the comp doesn't have adaquate through-flow to start with, even if you add a hdd cooler, all it will do is blow the hot air in the case onto your hdd.
which is silly.

A well ventilated case with adaquate system fans generally shouldn't require a hdd cooler, so that should be what you look at first

There is a fan in the power supply as usual but there is also a fan in the side of the case, is this an exhaust fan? It has a cowling which touches the heat sink on the cpu, to take away the heat from the cpu I assume. Otherwise the case is quite closed in.

I already use speedfan which is what showed me the HD was hot.

Poppycat

My server case which doesnt have any intakes uses the cheapo fan I mentioned. My main rig has a lian LI case and is noisey with all the fans. You can get quiter fans I think its evercool that do them they dont cost a huge amount. Try Tekheads they sell custom pc stuff

You could get some rounded cables to aid air flow too if you wish. My am going to get a better case next time round, the caes I have is a cheapo Ebuyer case.

happyhero

I have the case cover off now and in this weather after the PC has been on for several hours, according to speedfan all the temperatures are still fluctuating around 48 to 51 degrees with the HD at 52 degrees showing a flame symbol, too hot I guess. So I think it may pay to have a HD cooler but how effective are they? Will they deffinitly take a few degrees off?

niceguyrichy

happyhero wrote:

There is a fan in the power supply as usual but there is also a fan in the side of the case

I'm going to make another presumption (< I'm good at those ) that there isn't a case fan front and back (?).
(I apologise in advance if I'm wrong)

that is, a fan attached to the back of the case, drawing hot air out of the case. And, a fan attached to the front of the case, drawing cool air into the case .

otherwise, and presuming from what you've told us already, it's also ridiculously hot where you are, and you've not noticed any performance issue with your hdd, then maybe your disk drive is just feeling the heat like the rest of us and needs to wait for winter????

but now I'm all out of presumptions, so I'm gonna go take all my clothes off and stand under a cold shower :rotfl: