Adding 2nd drive - worried about heat

[Si]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

Hi,

I'm thinking of adding a second HD to my HP Pavilion 733.uk series PC.

I already have the standard DVD Rom and DVD+/+RW drives AND a Seagate 80GB
HDD fitted inside the case....plus a 3.5" floppy.

That leaves one 3.5" drive bay free....

I've not added any extra fans beyond the original ones fitted - I belive
there's one drawing cool air in down a cowling onto the motherboard and one
taking warm air away....

The case is 14x15x8 inches in size.

How likely am I to encounter heat related problems?

Beyond adding RAM and a USB 2.0 card, I'm relatively novice at this - so be
gentle with me.

Si.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

Previously Si <si@nospamforme.com> wrote:
> Hi,

> I'm thinking of adding a second HD to my HP Pavilion 733.uk series PC.

> I already have the standard DVD Rom and DVD+/+RW drives AND a Seagate 80GB
> HDD fitted inside the case....plus a 3.5" floppy.

> That leaves one 3.5" drive bay free....

> I've not added any extra fans beyond the original ones fitted - I belive
> there's one drawing cool air in down a cowling onto the motherboard and one
> taking warm air away....

> The case is 14x15x8 inches in size.

> How likely am I to encounter heat related problems?

Depends on your access pattern and how much metal the drives are
in contact with. Cooling drives is allways a good idea. The cooler
they run, the more reliable and longer they live.

> Beyond adding RAM and a USB 2.0 card, I'm relatively novice at this
> - so be gentle with me.

One way to tell is adding the drive, running it for an hour or two
and then checking the temperature of both drives with a SMART tool.
"smartctl" (->Google) is available on Linux and Windows.

Take into account that you need to add the difference between current
room temperature and the maximum you are going to operate the computer
under to the measured figures. If your disk temperatures are below 45C
or so, you are fine unless you put regular longer heavy load
on the disks.

Arno
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