Quick Clarification on Hard Drive Cooling.
 

OK I want to make a simple hard drive water cooling solution. I have read that Hard Drives are designed to release heat through their sides. Does anyone know if this is true?

Thanks in advance.

Brian W

ive heard that the sides do get hotter also. ive seen guys make heatsinks for the sides that brought the temps down. i guess the best way to find out, is take ur hard drive out of the case sit it on top and touch the sides, top and bottom over a period of time. then u will know for sure...

I really don't know the answer to your question, but I do know what some people have said.

First, I believe that the major heat producer is the motor, not the electronics, and the motor heat is mainly in the spindle. The spindle releases it's heat through the middle of the PCB, not the sides of the drive.

Second, there is an article on ProCooling specifically about cooling your hard drive. Score! Look here:
link. So, even if the heat isn't being produced near the case, it seems you can cool the whole drive (enough) by cooling the HD case. The PCB and motor seem to be able to dump enough of their heat into the case to keep things running OK.

So do you think that if you had two waterblocks running alongside the harddrive you would get sufficient cooling?

Brian W

Covered here and here .

So what do you think bigben? Do you think it would cool sufficiently?

Brian W

I'd do it, yes. In fact, when I have time (which I never do...), I'll rebuild the drive cage for side waterblocks.

Here are some pics that my brother helped me make. We are noobs with this 3d modeling so bear with us. It is designed to also act as a conversion kit to mount your hard drivew in a 5.25 slot. As most of us have to remove those 3.5 slots for our mods anyways.

Top View

http://thengc.net/images/watercooled/wchd.pics/top.jpg

Bottom View

http://thengc.net/images/watercooled...ics/bottom.jpg

Front Top View

http://thengc.net/images/watercooled.../top-front.jpg

Front Bottom View

http://thengc.net/images/watercooled...ttom-front.jpg

Rear Top View

http://thengc.net/images/watercooled...s/top-rear.jpg

Rear Bottom View

http://thengc.net/images/watercooled...ottom-rear.jpg

BTW: That Grey box is supposed to be a hard drive. The connections would be adjacent to the barbs.

Edit: My Brother took that noob comment to heart and modeled an old Hard drive he had hanging around. The pics have been updated.

That looks pretty good.

Two points of interest, the nice big flat metal surface is insulated from the resto of the drive by an o-ring. It may look like a good place to stick a waterblock but you can do better.

Also, think about HD manufacturers. If you have a problem with heat management, users will be screwing a large piece of metal, (your case) to the sides of the drive. I have heard that they do try and get the heat to the side of the drive, this being one of the reasons why.

The reason is that the motor is situated on the lowest part of the drive. Usually HDDs are made out of 2 parts, sandwhiching an o-ring. Thus the upper part is insulated from the hot components (electronics, motor) which are on the lowest part.
Since you cannot stick any cooler under most drives - often electronics are exposed - what's left is the sides.

Thanks again guys. It is a privilege to be part of such a great community. I will update with pics if I make any revisions, or i actually get it produced.

Brian W