Which side of the harddisk produces the MOST heat?

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07-01-2009, 08:38 PM
Serpentarius

Which side of the harddisk produces the MOST heat?

Or rather which side of the hard disk produces the most heat?

sorry guys, i just had to ask this question (although it sounds dumb) ...
i do not have any thermal probe, so i cant determine which part of these:
TOP, BOTTOM, OR SIDES?

i couldnt google any details regarding this matter, as if there's no one ever raised it yet (maybe i'm the weirdo)

i'm hoping if anyone who had the previous knowledge or a thermal probe and curious enough to test it
07-01-2009, 08:54 PM
zanzabar

most of the time the sides are the hotest, unless u have a really old one with hot electronics
07-01-2009, 09:17 PM
Praxis1452

hard drives are made to conduct heat to the sides of the drive, this is where the hard drive contacts the metal frame.
07-01-2009, 10:50 PM
Serpentarius

could you guys elaborate further on the heat on sides? i'm sorry, i cant get it into my head. i recycled most of those hds and didnt keep some for referencing
07-02-2009, 12:26 AM
zanzabar

the sides are like a heat sink the heat is desighned to be drawn to the sides so it will make contact with the case and dicipate the motor heat and then ur supposed to have some airflow to cool the electronics but u need to remember that the HDD is mechanical and it needs to load from 30-45c
07-02-2009, 01:03 AM
Serpentarius

ok thanx .. that cleared it up
07-02-2009, 01:46 PM
Kaldor

Quote:

Originally Posted by Praxis1452

hard drives are made to conduct heat to the sides of the drive, this is where the hard drive contacts the metal frame.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zanzabar

the sides are like a heat sink the heat is desighned to be drawn to the sides so it will make contact with the case and dicipate the motor heat and then ur supposed to have some airflow to cool the electronics but u need to remember that the HDD is mechanical and it needs to load from 30-45c

QFT. These guys are correct.
07-02-2009, 02:55 PM
spookmineer

Trick question: what if the drive is suspended and doesn´t make contact to a metal frame?
07-02-2009, 03:03 PM
Levish

as long as they aren't high performance hard drives they should be fine with just circulation from convection assuming your case temps are under control however 10,000 / 15,000 rpm drives very likely need some sort of active airflow (My 2.5 15,000rpm SAS drives get untouchably hot in their hotswap cage without some airflow going on).
07-02-2009, 04:50 PM
spookmineer

I know... mine are suspended and never go over 40 °C. I guess in my case, the bottom with electronics is the hottest part (not saying this side produces the most heat, but with a very moderate airflow the air tends to go up from the sides and top, not from the bottom).