Final Touches on ATA: Hard-Drive Accessories Roundup

GUP Smart Drive 2002

The Smart Drive provoked a lot of head scratching at our lab. After all, who in their right mind would want to seal up a hard drive in an enclosure without the slightest ventilation at all?

First of all, you have to understand what the Smart Drive 2002 really is: a drive silencer that is designed to deaden the noise produced by hard drives. It works because the inside is fully coated with special foam and the case itself is almost perfectly sealed off.

The Smart Drive relies solely on the metal case to keep the hard drive's temperature in check. This had us worried, if the manufacturer couldn't deliver on its promises, any modern hard drive placed in the enclosure would fry to a crisp in only a few hours.

Luckily, our fears were unfounded. The Smart Drive 2002 both eliminates hard drive noise and keeps temperatures at an almost normal level. We tested the Smart Drive 2002 with an old IBM hard drive and a thermometer that we glued to the underside of the drive.

This cable slot is the Smart Drive 2002's only opening to the "outside" - in all other respects it's sealed tight.

Here you see that the hard drive is entirely surrounded by aluminum ...

... while all the gaps have been filled with sound-deadening foam.

32°C is an achievement after over an hour of constant use.