Has anyone else tried partially blocking the airflow through the drive cage to force air around your hot Seagate disk drive? I need HD cooling more than I need CPU/MB cooling so I thought I'd try it.
The oval holes above and below the hard disk remain open but all others remain blocked. It seems to have knocked a couple of degrees off my HD temps without affecting the CPU/MB temps but it's hard to tell due to changing conditions. I haven't run my A/C in over a month and I haven't turned the furnace on yet, either. My ambient office temps float between 23~25C.
Has anyone else tried this? I'm curious what others have found.
Sonata hard disk cage mods.
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Devonavar
On my Sonata, I tried all sorts of different things to reduce HD temps, including duct taping all openings except the 3 oval openings above and below my (2) HDDs. I also tried different HDD locations as well as blocking the ANTEC holes. IIRC none of the measures had a significant impact on drive temps. I ultimately ended up installing a Papst 4412FGL as a front fan. Addition of the fan does have a significant impact on drive temps on the order of 10C reduction running @7V. Currently< I have (2) 4412FGL's both running at 5V. I've found this to be a good mix of quiet with acceptable temps.
Thanks for the reply Bomba.
The more time goes by, the more I think this mod did help to the tune of a couple of degrees. My environment isn't controlled well enough to collect any quality data but I'm seeing 34~35C idle temperatures now and I was seeing 36~37C idle temps before.
I'm content to let my drives hit 40C when they are working hard and I'm pleased with my idle temps. I've got the single case fan at the back cranked right back on a Sunbeam Rheobus.
People have complained about airflow in this case but the freeair temps on the 7200.7 are crazy compared to the temps I get installed in the case. Taking the side off the case causes an HD temperature rise of a few degrees also. There's no question the Sonata is providing airflow in the disk cage. For me, it's good enough. Of course, I'd like to improve the disk airflow if it can be done without adding noise.
-- Tom
The more time goes by, the more I think this mod did help to the tune of a couple of degrees. My environment isn't controlled well enough to collect any quality data but I'm seeing 34~35C idle temperatures now and I was seeing 36~37C idle temps before.
I'm content to let my drives hit 40C when they are working hard and I'm pleased with my idle temps. I've got the single case fan at the back cranked right back on a Sunbeam Rheobus.
People have complained about airflow in this case but the freeair temps on the 7200.7 are crazy compared to the temps I get installed in the case. Taking the side off the case causes an HD temperature rise of a few degrees also. There's no question the Sonata is providing airflow in the disk cage. For me, it's good enough. Of course, I'd like to improve the disk airflow if it can be done without adding noise.
-- Tom