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Click to See Complete Forum and Search --> : Cooling a 15K SCSI drive - wacky setup!


sm8000
11-12-2003, 03:33 PM
I have an IBM 15K 36GB SCSI drive (SCA 80-pin with 68-pin adapter). It's at home, but I'll bring it to school after break. A friend of mine has given me an old external case for a SCSI CD-ROM; I'm going to take the optical drive out and mount the hard drive in there. I'm going to bypass the enclosure's SCSI-2 connector and run the cable directly to the drive (to the adapter).

In fact, I'm even going to run an internal ribbon cable to it, through an open slot in the back of my case. The card is an LSI U160. Later, when I get a bigger case & PSU, I'll put a tape drive in this thing and use my 50-to-68-pin adapter. I might even be able to get a Centronics adapter for this thing.

What I'm concerned about is the heat that this drive can generate - Storage Review called it the hottest drive they'd seen at the time. This is why I'm not putting it in my tiny case (sparing my wimpy PSU). Since this is a 3.5" drive in a relatively spacious 5.25" bay, what's the best way to ensure decent air temps around it? I know pcpowerandcooling.com has a cooling rack that should fit, but I don't want to spend $40 when $20 will do.

elleon30033
11-28-2003, 11:54 PM
i went to a local store and just got a 3 fan 5 1/2 bay cooler. if you do this you will need to also get the hdd rails to make it fit. Don't know if that will work for you as i can't really visualize your needs but thought it might serve your purposes for less than 15 dollars yanno?

morpheus kain
11-29-2003, 12:29 AM
Get a 40mm fan and use some more of that ingeniuty you've demonstrated.

Peter M
11-29-2003, 05:29 AM
What you need is a SCA drive bay w/ cooling fan. That'll get you a lot:

* Fits the 3.5" drive into a 5.25" bay
* Converts from SCA to 68-pin cable
* Keeps the drive cool

sm8000
11-29-2003, 10:49 AM
Where can I find such an item, Peter? Would any typical retailer have this? I'm not sure what to make of results from Google or Pricewatch.

Incidentally I did find this at storgaereview.com:

http://www.storagereview.com/articles/9809/980923coolers.html

Of those, it looks like pcpowerandcooling.com's unit is the best buy. Doesn't have the 80-68 conversion but I have that adapter.