HDDs getting very hot!

[Andres]

I've got a HTPC / file server box setup with 4 hard drives in it.

1x 1TB for video
1x 500gb for photos
1x 250gb for muisc
1x 160gb for OS / torrenting

It sits in a big enterntainment unit. I've added a little 80mm fan to the back of the entertainment unit that runs with the PC to extract some heat. (Plugs into the spare 'case' fan port on the mobo).

However on the odd occasion I pull the side of the box to do maintenance or whatever, the HDD are too hot to touch. It should be pointed out that the drives really shouldn't be doing all that much work ever at the same time, due to their 'catagorical' usage. Also, the CPU fan doesn't speed up all that often (i.e. the inside of the case musn't be getting terribly hot).

Should each of the HDDs get that hot? I'm talking to hot to hold your finger on.

Seems like a big waste of power, and more heat = more fan = more noise

[koopz]

set them to turn off after 5 mins of use?

it sounds like you could use some more fans too

[amano.ginji]

How close are the drives to each other? Is there a fan nearby to push air between around em?

Have you thought about using a larger 120mm or 140mm fan instead of the 80mm? It would be able to push more air and be quieter too...

[Andres]

Originally Posted by koopz

set them to turn off after 5 mins of use?

it sounds like you could use some more fans too

I'll have to check those settings and see how it goes - good idea though!

Is there any simple way of testing when they are off? i.e. to confirm the settings work? I guess maybe feel for vibrations or something. They're all so close together that noise may be too inaccurate. (Which obviosuly doesn't help heat)

Originally Posted by amano.ginji

How close are the drives to each other? Is there a fan nearby to push air between around em?

Have you thought about using a larger 120mm or 140mm fan instead of the 80mm? It would be able to push more air and be quieter too...

They're 4 in a 'stack' as per the HDD layout of the cae. No fan (or option for one) nearby on the case.

I don't think the entertainment unit is the issue, the CPU/GPU fans never cycle up in speed (something they did before I added the 'entertainment unit' fan). Will check out larger fans though, esp for noise.

[saba]

A 4-in-3 unit with a silent/quiet fan will do wonders.

[s3kemo]

consolidate the 500/250/160 into another 1tb drive (partition it if you want to) and you've halved your drives. so there goes half your heat problem right there.

is that a valid option for you?

[Andres]

Originally Posted by s3kemo

consolidate the 500/250/160 into another 1tb drive (partition it if you want to) and you've halved your drives. so there goes half your heat problem right there.

is that a valid option for you?

Ooooh thinking outside the square - I like it. I do get some silly satisfaction from the physical seperation between it all, but realistically, it's not very effecient.

I could easily pop the music and vids together as it is and get rid of the 250gb drive.

Probably still leave the O/S serperate as it's a lot less worrying doing a full reinstall of an O/S knowing that your media isn't physically on that drive.

Originally Posted by koopz

set them to turn off after 5 mins of use?

it sounds like you could use some more fans too

After a quick google - it seems that on XP, the power management option only applied to "all or none'" of the drives. This isn't much good as watching a movie would only use one/two dirves, and the other two are doing nothing.

Not 100% on that though.

[s3kemo]

Originally Posted by Andres

Ooooh thinking outside the square - I like it. I do get some silly satisfaction from the physical seperation between it all, but realistically, it's not very effecient.

I could easily pop the music and vids together as it is and get rid of the 250gb drive.

Probably still leave the O/S serperate as it's a lot less worrying doing a full reinstall of an O/S knowing that your media isn't physically on that drive.

If you want to keep OS on a separate drive (fair enough), do you want to consider a 2.5" laptop drive? Since you don't need awesome performance for OS any SATA (SATA = thinner cables) laptop drive would be sufficient for OS, plus it's smaller, cooler, quieter than a 3.5" drive and wouldn't restrict any airflow if you put a case fan in there to push air around.

edit: so it'd be 1tb + 500g (music + vid) + 2.5" laptop drive (os/torrents). 3 drives, one of which is a laptop drive. way better than 4x 3.5" drives

[Andres]

Originally Posted by s3kemo

If you want to keep OS on a separate drive (fair enough), do you want to consider a 2.5" laptop drive? Since you don't need awesome performance for OS any SATA (SATA = thinner cables) laptop drive would be sufficient for OS, plus it's smaller, cooler, quieter than a 3.5" drive and wouldn't restrict any airflow if you put a case fan in there to push air around.

edit: so it'd be 1tb + 500g (music + vid) + 2.5" laptop drive (os/torrents). 3 drives, one of which is a laptop drive. way better than 4x 3.5" drives

Yeah - definately not a bad option.

Just having a bit more of a search around, it seems modern processors are a lot more heat/energy effecient too compared with the A64 3500X2 in there at the moment.

(Just want to feel a bit less guilty when I leave it running for long periods of time).

[koopz]

After a quick google - it seems that on XP, the power management option only applied to "all or none'" of the drives. This isn't much good as watching a movie would only use one/two dirves, and the other two are doing nothing.

it's all of them.

if you're watching a movie your OS drive and the drive the movie is on will continue to spin until after you're done. same goes for another drive if you have the swap file sitting on it (if you set drives/volumes to spin down)

some people dislike waiting a moment for a drive to spin up when they come back later to watch something / search your shares

[Dezza Bot]

I'd simply do an os drive (whatever size) and a 2tb for data. The 2tb could easily be a wd green which doesn't get too hot when running, but does suffer from a long spin up time, so best to just keep it running. Or you could look into power saving with your current setup, which would obviously cost you nothing.