It seems to me most HDD enclosures are pretty bad without decent airflow. I´ve got s few of the Level HDD Shell from
www.coolputer.fi(click the Union Jack flag for english version of the site) and they do cool very well. So far they are the only enclosure i have found that has direct contact between the hdd and the enclosure, and the whole upper and lower side are heatsinks. I have added some thermal paste between the hdd and enclosure and the two halves of the enclosure. With low airflow from the rear-fan my Raptor idles at 33c
![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
Currently its in one of the 5,25" slots with one open slot under it. Previously i had a SpinPoint lying on the acoustipacked case floor with foam covering the top of the enclosure too and another spinpoint on top of it so pretty much zero airflow, it idled at 31c.. With the SpinPoint on top of the foam with some airflow idled about 41c.
These enclosures are easily capable of passive cooling, thats for shure. Other enclosures might be better at noise reduction, but they also might need more airflow..
I havent used other enclosures, but it seems most of them either dont have proper contact between hdd and enclosure or only use the sides of the enclosure for cooling.
And these are the cheapest ones available at 39.90€, i wouldnt pay 60€ for the mCubed or Nexus variants
![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
39.90€ is expensive enough, but worth it for me at least.
Heres my complaints with the two enclosures above, the mCubed only uses the sides for cooling, i think i remember a review getting 40c+ temps on a similar Raptor as mine and they had more airflow than i do in my case.
Here it is, its in swedish The Nexus drive-a-way, as far as i can see, doesnt have direct contact between the hdd and enclosure, no reviews spotted yet. i might be blind though.
Theres some pictures of the Level enclosure in the thread mentioned in my sig.