h/d's in removable trays?

[littleberry]

Maybe a dumb question? I have had a rash of h/d failures lately that I *thought* was maybe a virus - but, now I wonder if the real culprit might be these removable trays that I run my h/d's from. Overheating? Has anyone else suffered loss of h/d's when using these removable trays?
They go into a housing that fits where you normally would put a CDROM drive, and there is a little fan on the side that doesn't seem to blow very much air. I've been doing this for about 4 years now, with my h/d sizes going from originally 6 gigs up to where now I am using 120g's and I think the heat is causing them to fail. What happens is they just suddenly won't copy data (to or from) and, on reboot, they are seen as "system unknown". Is there a better design for a remobable tray to accomodate these higher capacity h/d's? shaken up a bit,... littleberry

 

[Crashman]

Plastic drive trays are horrible, I've burned a couple drives that way. Lucky for me they were old worthless units.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[littleberry]

Crashman, before I give up on the idea completely, I am going to try one from newegg that has a 50mm fan on the bottom blowing air directly up onto the h/d circuit board.
It is just under $30, and I am hoping that will keep these large capacity h/d's from overheating, because, I make frequent use of the removable aspect. What with USB2 being so common these days, though, the is much less need for having removable h/d's connected to the dma channels. I wish there were a lot of discussion on this subject because I am groping around in the dark here. Do you just keep yours locked down internally with no way to get at them without taking off the case cover? littleberry

 

[Crashman]

That's what I do, leave the drive mounted in an internal drive rack.

But if I had to make it easily removable, I'd consider an aluminium drive cage, rather than plastic. You can even get 4 to 5 drive aluminum/steel racks that fit in 3 large bays with the drives sideways, and many of those have large fans as well.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[blah]

It does not matter what enclosure you'll have, it matters if you have it open and air accessible. I do not put front pannel on them ever and have one FW drive over a year in plastic/metal combination and the other one full plastic about half of that time working as new and never hot to touch. My bro had 2 of those in all metal boxes and got them fried in less than a year (they were closed all over, even with the fan)

For most part you need an enclosure so you can take it to wherever you want to, so (once again) it really does not matter how the box loox like, it matters that the drive can be transported easily with it, so just get whatever you want and you'll be happy with it as long as they have air thingy going in and out.

..this is very useful and helpful place for information...

 

[jim552]

I concur with Crashman and disagree with Blah.

NOTE: I'm just putting "carrier" here, but I mean "frame and carrier".

While air flow is DEFINATELY important I believe plastic drive carriers should be avoided since it seems that the plastic acts as a heat insulator. (EVEN ones with fans.)

I have used two brands of plastic drive carriers, one that was partially aluminum. I had drives fail that I didn't think should have failed.

Eventually, I borrowed a point and shoot infrared thermometer and did some testing.

In the same computer case, using the same drives, mounted in the same configuration, with different removeable drive carriers the "All metal" drive carriers were consistently cooler. I DID NOT measure the temperature of the drive carrier, but rather would pop open the cover and measure the temperature of the hard drive in the carrier.

This was true, for me, even when I compared a metal carrier without a fan, to a plastic one with a fan. (Although the fan on the plastic ones did help.)

For Me, I use ALL metal drive carriers with no fans. Most of My cases have additional fans in them because I believe in good air flow and I have had NO problems.

The real big issue though is that the metal drive carriers are a lot more than the plastic ones.

I would ONLY use all metal, unless someone came up with plastic one that they claimed transfered heat better than metal. (and then I would test before switching.)

 

[littleberry]

Jim, Could you point me to an internet site for these metal carriers? I plan on changing all my current plastic carriers out. Also, do you have any kind of data on this "point and shoot" infared thermometer? That sounds like a very useful tool to have around. thanks, littleberry

 

[jim552]

For me specifically, I use "Storcase" frames and carriers. I have had really good luck with them, and would whole heartedly recommend their use.

They are expensive though, but then again I have never had one fail! I have had IDE ones in continuous use for over 6 years.

While I do have frame and carriers for different types of interfaces, I primarily am using them with Raptor SATA hard drives. (I have about 30 in use at this moment.)

As far as the "Infrared Thermometers" I don't really have a lot of experience with them. I have used various brands on occasion and have found them to be really helpful. Prices in the early nineties when I first used them was over $1,000 now some of the low end ones are a bit over $100.

I think that this link will prove to be useful. It's a pretty good description of the what one would want to look for.

<A HREF="http://www.omega.com/prodinfo/infraredthermometer.html" target="_new">http://www.omega.com/prodinfo/infraredthermometer.html</A>

Also go to <A HREF="http://www.electricitymetering.com" target="_new">http://www.electricitymetering.com</A> and search for "Thermometer".

NOTE: I just found these two pages regarding the thermometers. I don't know if the one I borrowed before was of either brand or not. This is not something that I have researched as I don't use/need them often.

 

[blah]

sigh...

..this is very useful and helpful place for information...

 

[jheine]

You should be able to find the aluminum bays on NewEgg as well. I got minne there; you just need to double check the descriptions.

Jarrett

 

[littleberry]

I found the Kingwin KF-101-IPF on sale at Fry's and also at Newegg (now sold out). The housing was $24 and the extra tray's were $11. They are aluminum with a larger fan (probably 50 or 60 mm) on the bottom that draws air from the circuit board and ejects it out the back. I installed these and have now gone through several hours of heavy h/d use and I just turned it off and touched my hand on the drive and it was merely warm - not at all hot. They used to be so hot I couldn't touch them. In my opinion, this has solved the problem. Thanks. One minor drawback - they make more noise, BUT, it is a low hum and not the loud high pitched whine, so, it doesn't bother me. My advice is to never use plastic h/d carriers - it is well worth the extra to get the metal ones. littleberry

 

[sjonnie]

Hmm, are you talking about removeable HDD trays or hot-swap multi-enclosures? I have a 3-in-2 multi-enclosure with a 50mm fan on the front and a 50C alarm in it. It went of once I think when I restricted the airflow too much. I never used a single HDD hot-swap enclosure but the best I saw were the enermax brand with a large fan in the bottom and temperature monitor on the front.

<A HREF="http://www.enermax.com.tw/products_per2.php?Tid=3&gon=247&Gid=1&Gid2=24" target="_new">http://www.enermax.com.tw/products_per2.php?Tid=3&gon=247&Gid=1&Gid2=24</A>

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/myanandtech.html?member=114979" target="_new">My PCs</A>