usb external drive question... heat!

[asho]

hi there, i'm just a newbie here so please go easy!

i'm also the recipient of a rather cheap USB2 external case for 3.5" hard drives. It lacks any cooling fan, and is very snug, so i'm guessing it is a hard drive death trap? yes?

since this drive is pretty much never going to get moved, (i'd like to store non-critical files like music and movies on it and leave it on my desk so i can plug my laptop in when at home), I was more concerned about the longevity of the hard drive than portable perfection. Should also mention there's no shock-absorbing features!

So what I thought was to drill a rather large hole on the roof of the case and place an 80mm fan and some kinda dust-filter on the top and power it from the power-cable used with the hard drive.

Does this sound feasible? Does anyone have any other suggestions? Is it possible to draw power for the fan by just jumping on the back of the hard drive's cables. I'd probably glue a piece of thin foam to the base, to help with vibrations on the desk too.

Thanks for your input in advance!

[Nagoshi]

Go for a small fan, it should help if the air only gets moving, no need to have a cyclone for one hard drive. As for the shock absorbtion, you could use some rubber washers when you screw the hard drive, it will help with the sound dampering and vibration reduction.

And, unless you use a raptor or a fast-spinning hard drive, I wouldnt worry too much about that case being a death trap. If you can, use an old 5400? rpm drive, it won't get too hot. I had two hard drives (one on top of the other one) in a computer case that had no ventilation (except for the cpu fan that ain't moving much air), and they still works. Note that in this rig, my GPU may be running at around 50C on a passive heatsink. There shouldnt be any danger for your hard drive, since it's going to be outside your computer and thus, more accessible to fresh air.

[asho]

cool, thank you!

[asho]

so as far as powering the fan, that'd be sweet? there isn't much room in the case for a plug through fan, so i'm guessing it i can just wire it directly to the IDE power plug? and the fan should suck out... not blow in!?

[progbuddy]

I have a small fan. Its made by Cooler Master, and its about 1/4 in. thick and 3 in. by 3 in. Its a good idea to get a small thin fan. Just wire it into the case to the 12 volt (yellow) and ground (black). I'm using my cooler master fan to make a small laptop cooler (for my Toshiba) that works with USB.

[Nagoshi]

Well, at first you could try the thing without a fan, and see if it gets hot. If you see it gets too hot for you (remember that hard drives DOES runs hot, but if you feel like it ain't going to hold on... just compare with your hard drive in your computer) then you could make some venting holes on the HDD case, and if you are afraid of toasting something, get a fan. I have many old GPU-sized fans around here and even a Pentium1 fan could do the job. You don't need something that will move much air, only a small airflow will clean off a couple of degrees.

[asho]

Thanks everyone for your input, i'm learning lots! Given the cheapness of components and the possibility for technical enlightenment, I'll give it a go. Now, I found this information about the wiring of IDE power cables and fan power cables, (http://www.silentpcreview.com/article6-page1.html) but my fan (a 60mm one) has three wires: black, blue and a red in the middle. Red is positive i'm guessing, but what are the blue and black? Can someone advise me where these wires should go? I was going to strip the ends and put them directly into the IDE plug. thanks!

[Nagoshi]

Black is the output of the fan; remember, the current must flow in and out :) The blue one is probably the ''data'', which would be the RPM at which the fan is spinning right now.