Modding HDD heat and problems

I am doing a mod where i will be working with 4 hdds in a very small space, and im wondering if heat will cause any problems and will one fan for 4 hdds be adiquet...

thanks guys

 

Well, usually HDD heat doesn't affect much, but with 4 of them, and in a small space, I think you're gonna have to be careful. I had problems running 2 7200RPM drives in an extremely small box I built for a server (we're talking less than a foot for every dimension small though), so I would advise at least 2 fans blowing across the HDD's, and space them out as much as possible

Another option is to use HDD coolers, which may get kinda pricy at $10 bucks a pop times 4, but will do the job well.

 

Just how small a box are we talking here and what type of drives are you gonna use???

 

i would also say HDD coolers or if you are able to have a 120mm fan right in front of all of them and run it at full speed

 

rule of thumb for adequate cooling of HDD ( with whatever you want to cover them) is 2 low volt fans for 2 HDd's or 2 fans for 4 HDD at high voltage

its up to you but use a minimum of 2 fans for the 4 hdds.

 

For sound and cooling I too would go with one 120mm fan blowing across the drives like this (see cr@ppy ascii art)

Code:

XXX = side of fan  
#######  = side of HDD

X  X    #######
XXX
XXX    #######
XXX
XXX    #######
XXX
XXX    #######
X  X

Sad, I just felt like doing some ascii diagramming..

 

There is no way you will need more than 1 fan unless the ambient temps are almost unbearable in your room.

The old antec/chieftec chassis used to have a 3.56" 3drive tray with a single 80 on the front (very similar to scoobs ascii) and it more than adequately cools 3 drives at 7 V. I would consider one 120, controlled by a fanbus if you have one, blowing accross the lot. Its probably best if it blows from end to end thoughrather than accross thier width so you can remove the heat from both sides of them (HDs loose most of thier heat from the sides).

Best way to see is to monitor the HDs with MBM (if your disks support it) and keep an eye on them adjusting the fan to compensate for noise and heat best you can.

 

id say the most you need on a hard drive is 10 cfm per drive. so for the 4 you have id get a medium powered 120 cm fan or 2 80 cm. in my rig i have 3-80mm fans sucking 150cfm on 6 hard drives with space for 3 more.

 

the cube is a 8inx8inx8in cube, with a mini-itx board and full sized psu in it. so far it has been running fine without much cooling. but it has never been on full load or on for more than 5 hours.

thanks guys

 

Using Speedfan or MBM to read the S.M.A.R.T temp of your HD's should give you a good idea of their operating temps.

I have three HD's in the buttom of my midi tower case, and they are 30-37*C at any time. One 8cm Pabst 12dB fan as the intake fan is mounted in fornt of the HD's
Then I have one 120gb HD in a "plastic drawer", in the 5.25" drive bay area, and it overheats ALL the time. The average temp - when NOT in use - is 32*C, but when accessing it for more than 1 minute, then it heats up to 48-52*C. I'll have to move it soon, or it's bye, bye HD.

 

i thought i read somewhere that hdds are safe into the 60s?

 

Well, they'll operate, and maintain data, but will probably have a much higher degree of malfunction or failure.

If the entire device is 50 or higher, then the temp of chip wafer surfaces may reach 70 or 80*C at which temps they will have a varieing degree of malfunctioning.