two hdds and one floppy install one on the other: would it overheat?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Zhang Weiwu
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Zhang Weiwu

Hello. I just installed a old Maxtor 9 0650u2 IDE harddisk onto another
existing Seagate ST320423 A 20G harddisk into my tight PC box. there are
three 3.5 inch slots in the box, the floppy is on top. two HDDs below them.

However I think the box is badly designed. Now after three devices
inserted into three slots, each device stay right on top of the other,
with no space between. The two hdd is not even 1mm between each other. I
heard someone talked about over heated hdd problems. Can I ask a newbie
question: is my hdd likly to get broken by heat in the future?

Because I run dual-OS, Win2k on the 9G hdd and FreeBSD on the 20G disk,
these disks rarely r/w together. 99% of the time only one disk is
working, the other is only powered on.

Thank you.
 
Hello. I just installed a old Maxtor 9 0650u2 IDE harddisk onto another
existing Seagate ST320423 A 20G harddisk into my tight PC box. there are
three 3.5 inch slots in the box, the floppy is on top. two HDDs below them.
Click to expand...
However I think the box is badly designed. Now after three devices
inserted into three slots, each device stay right on top of the other,
with no space between. The two hdd is not even 1mm between each other. I
heard someone talked about over heated hdd problems. Can I ask a newbie
question: is my hdd likly to get broken by heat in the future?
Click to expand...


With 2 drives of that age, it's unlikely to be an issue.. If you were
running say 2x 7200RPM 80GB drives on top of each other, then you may have
to worry about cooling, but an old 9GB and a 20GB are unlikely to produce
massive amounts of heat.

I wouldn't think it would make a difference whether the drives read/write
frequently or not at all, as the heat would be generated by the motor
spinning the platters..


Regards,
Chris
 
Hello. I just installed a old Maxtor 9 0650u2 IDE harddisk onto another
existing Seagate ST320423 A 20G harddisk into my tight PC box. there are
three 3.5 inch slots in the box, the floppy is on top. two HDDs below them.

However I think the box is badly designed. Now after three devices
inserted into three slots, each device stay right on top of the other,
with no space between. The two hdd is not even 1mm between each other. I
heard someone talked about over heated hdd problems. Can I ask a newbie
question: is my hdd likly to get broken by heat in the future?

Because I run dual-OS, Win2k on the 9G hdd and FreeBSD on the 20G disk,
these disks rarely r/w together. 99% of the time only one disk is
working, the other is only powered on.

Thank you.
Click to expand...

I dont know how good they are or if theyll even work with such old HDs
but there is software that gives some kind of temp reading from your
HDs. There are simple ones and more elaborate ones that do some sort
of SMART monitoring which some believe may give some warnings of
impending HD problems.

Personally I dont like them to be real tight though you have older
ones so they arent 7200. Ive noticed my 7200 HDs run fairly hot to the
touch and when I did the readings there were surprising jumps when
compressing and uncompressing some things with some progs to the point
I got paranoid and bought a HD cooler and have a fan in front of my
HDs .

Cant you at least leave one HD out ? Buy the add on mounting brackets
you can get a COMPUSA for 10 bucks or so and use them on one to hang
below the built in 3.5 bracket.
 
Zhang Weiwu said:
Hello. I just installed a old Maxtor 9 0650u2 IDE harddisk onto another
existing Seagate ST320423 A 20G harddisk into my tight PC box. there are
three 3.5 inch slots in the box, the floppy is on top. two HDDs below them.

However I think the box is badly designed. Now after three devices
inserted into three slots, each device stay right on top of the other,
with no space between. The two hdd is not even 1mm between each other. I
heard someone talked about over heated hdd problems. Can I ask a newbie
question: is my hdd likly to get broken by heat in the future?

Because I run dual-OS, Win2k on the 9G hdd and FreeBSD on the 20G disk,
these disks rarely r/w together. 99% of the time only one disk is
working, the other is only powered on.
Click to expand...


I got these Lian Li HDD brackets for my server.

http://www.lian-li.com/product.php?action=viewPD&prdid=764

ss.
 
Hello. I just installed a old Maxtor 9 0650u2 IDE harddisk onto another
existing Seagate ST320423 A 20G harddisk into my tight PC box. there are
three 3.5 inch slots in the box, the floppy is on top. two HDDs below them.

However I think the box is badly designed. Now after three devices
inserted into three slots, each device stay right on top of the other,
with no space between. The two hdd is not even 1mm between each other. I
heard someone talked about over heated hdd problems. Can I ask a newbie
question: is my hdd likly to get broken by heat in the future?

Because I run dual-OS, Win2k on the 9G hdd and FreeBSD on the 20G disk,
these disks rarely r/w together. 99% of the time only one disk is
working, the other is only powered on.

Thank you.
Click to expand...


No, old drives don't get hot like the new massive gigabyte drives do.
 
Hello. I just installed a old Maxtor 9 0650u2 IDE harddisk onto another
existing Seagate ST320423 A 20G harddisk into my tight PC box. there are
three 3.5 inch slots in the box, the floppy is on top. two HDDs below them.

However I think the box is badly designed. Now after three devices
inserted into three slots, each device stay right on top of the other,
with no space between. The two hdd is not even 1mm between each other. I
heard someone talked about over heated hdd problems. Can I ask a newbie
question: is my hdd likly to get broken by heat in the future?

Because I run dual-OS, Win2k on the 9G hdd and FreeBSD on the 20G disk,
these disks rarely r/w together. 99% of the time only one disk is
working, the other is only powered on.

Thank you.
Click to expand...

Some drives get hotter than others, even older drives that are
not AS hot as their newer counterparts.

Being powered on, spinning, is enough to cause it to heat up.
Ideally you should have more than 1mm between them, but only you
can touch-test the drives to see how hot they feel. If they are
more than just warm you ought to consider a different arrangement
since long-term heat can reduce their lifespan.

To a certain extent, case design and airflow in general will also
impact how hot they get, if your case has a lot if intake holes
(or a fan) in front of the HDD bay, having space between the two
drives is less important, but again we can't conclude if
necessary or not without knowing how hot they're actually
getting.
 
Zhang Weiwu said:
Hello. I just installed a old Maxtor 9 0650u2 IDE harddisk onto another
existing Seagate ST320423 A 20G harddisk into my tight PC box. there are
three 3.5 inch slots in the box, the floppy is on top. two HDDs below them.

However I think the box is badly designed. Now after three devices
inserted into three slots, each device stay right on top of the other,
with no space between. The two hdd is not even 1mm between each other. I
heard someone talked about over heated hdd problems. Can I ask a newbie
question: is my hdd likly to get broken by heat in the future?

Because I run dual-OS, Win2k on the 9G hdd and FreeBSD on the 20G disk,
these disks rarely r/w together. 99% of the time only one disk is
working, the other is only powered on.
Click to expand...

You could always get an adaptor and mount the floppy up in one of the 5.25" bays,
leaving ample room for two HDDs in the 3.5: bay, if you are having a heat issue.

Jon
 
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