Quiet SCSI cooling... Zalman ZM-2HC1?

echoes · Post by **echoes** » Sun Aug 24, 2003 4:56 pm

In my Sonata I have 3 hard drives, 2 IDE and 1 SCSI. Only the SCSI really needs cooling. Would this be sufficient to cool my Maxtor Atlas 10KIII? I did a search but didn't find too much on the Zalman cooler. I'm a little skeptical that it can do much cooling, but if anyone has any experience with this I'd love to hear it. thanks

DonP · Post by **DonP** » Sun Aug 24, 2003 5:40 pm

Here's one review.
They find that it actually raises the temp.
I don't see how it could work effectively without increasing the heat dissipation surface area a lot. This only transfers heat from one side to the other. It's also weird to measure temps near the spindle.. AFAIK most heat is at the sides (once read that on storagereview.com).

This review however did find some benefit to it.
Maybe because it was in an acrylic case and there was no default cooling from the case.

Both reviews however agree that it does drop noise levels.

One thing though, I don;t have a Sonata but I think the internal 3.5" bays are behind a fan.. the ZM-2HC1 mounts in a 5.25" bay, and in the Sonata there are no fans there - expect even higher temps.

Riffer · Post by **Riffer** » Mon Aug 25, 2003 5:31 am

That drive doesn't even have a temperature sensor, as I remember.

Also, a lot of idle noise.

Under those circumstances, I don't know if I would run it without direct cooling, and since the Zalman fits in a 5.25" bay, I don't know how that would be accomplished.

That having been said, if the bottom front of your case is open (which it isn't on the Sonata), I can see mounting the Zalman there and taking advantage of a front fan.

echoes · Post by **echoes** » Mon Aug 25, 2003 6:56 am

Thanks for the responses guys. Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I realize I should just buy a 120 mm fan to put behind the hard drive cage.

DonP · Post by **DonP** » Mon Aug 25, 2003 7:22 am

echoes wrote:Thanks for the responses guys. Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I realize I should just buy a 120 mm fan to put behind the hard drive cage.

I don't see how the Zalman can be mounted in the 3.5" buy, but there is an alternative.. assuming you have the fan in front you could try mounting the drive in rubber grommets. I've never tried it - I suspend my drives - but I've heard it's just as effective.

One point of note.. not being a Sonata owner I'm not so sure it has normal HDD holes - I think it may have drive rails - I don;t know if rubber grommets will work in that

DonP.

lenny · Post by **lenny** » Mon Aug 25, 2003 9:04 am

DonP wrote:I don't see how the Zalman can be mounted in the 3.5" buy, but there is an alternative.. assuming you have the fan in front you could try mounting the drive in rubber grommets. I've never tried it - I suspend my drives - but I've heard it's just as effective.

One point of note.. not being a Sonata owner I'm not so sure it has normal HDD holes - I think it may have drive rails - I don;t know if rubber grommets will work in that

I think echoes mean to forget about the Zalman and mount the drive in the 3.5" bay. There is indeed no way the Zalman can fit in a 3.5" bay.

The Sonata's rail comes with grommets pre-installed. Actually, it's more like a tray with grommets at the bottom, where the drive attaches. Check the review on the main site if you're interested.

echoes · Post by **echoes** » Mon Aug 25, 2003 3:41 pm

lenny wrote:I think echoes mean to forget about the Zalman and mount the drive in the 3.5" bay. There is indeed no way the Zalman can fit in a 3.5" bay.

Correct. In fact I ordered a 120 mm panaflo a few hours ago.