Informed builders and support technicians know the enemy of data is heat. High-end system users know one enemy of productivity is noise. Yet many builders produce high-end systems with a cluster of high-speed drives, under-cooled and confined, without any form of noise isolation whatsoever. CoolerMaster and Vantec would like to help, with devices that promise to cool hard drives to extend their life, and possibly even quiet them at the same time.

Cooler Master presents its most recent drive cooler, the CoolDrive Lite, while Vantec sends both its classic Vortex and newer Vortex 2 models. Stylish solutions for moving 3.5" internal drives to 5.25" external bays, can any of these provide the added performance needed to make them a good value, or should we just stick to old-fashioned face plates and rails?