Today on the Internet you can find a huge amount of materials devoted to the problems of air cooling of hard drives and suppressing the noise they produce. You can find almost everything except a consistent, systematic approach to solving this problem.

And it can be solved in different ways:

• some believe that the main thing is to cool it down and cover the entire hard drive with radiators, surround it with the most powerful howling and roaring fans, and noise is considered a side effect that does not deserve attention;
• others are annoyed by such noise, and they each try to deal with it in their own way, often to the detriment of cooling;
• and many do not even imagine the consequences of overheating and do not pay attention to the extreme temperatures, or, especially, to the noise.

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Why is that?

The point, most likely, is that few people are sufficiently familiar with ways to solve problems such as effective cooling and suppression of noise produced by a hard drive (and the computer system as a whole).

This state of affairs led to the appearance of this article. Its main goal is to provide all possible assistance in understanding, comprehending and systematizing the general principles and ways of comprehensively solving problems, both cooling a hard drive and suppressing the noise it produces.

In this article:

• as briefly as possible, popularly or even axiomatically, the information and minimal fundamentals necessary for understanding the material under consideration and approaches to the selection of specific design solutions are presented;
• an attempt is made not only to analyze and classify methods and methods for air cooling a hard drive and reducing the noise it produces, but also to analyze the effectiveness of solutions used in standard cooling and noise reduction devices for hard drives;
• shows an example of an integrated approach to solving the problem of cooling and reducing the noise of a hard drive, both when choosing a specific finished device, and in the practical development and manufacture of a home-made design.

I would like to hope that the article will be useful to everyone who wants to get the most balanced hard drive cooling solution that produces a minimum of noise and prevents the drive from overheating even under extreme operating conditions and loads. Moreover, both for those who are guided by a ready-made solution, and for those who, in order to most effectively solve problems on this topic, are ready to show ingenuity in refining ready-made solutions and make something of their own.

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Notes

Many of the terms used in the article currently have quite a few interpretations. Therefore, in such cases, we will specifically stipulate their meaning and content used in the article.

To focus readers' attention, the following signs are used:

COOLING BASICS

The hard drive is heated by both electronic and electromechanical elements. Moreover, perhaps more heat is emitted by mechanical elements, for example, such as a positioner coil in a jar with mechanics (hermoblock) or an electric motor. Electronics generate less heat, but individual microcircuits, due to their small size, usually heat up to a higher temperature than the HDA.

It is not so much the electronic components of the controller or the surface of the plates that slowly degrade from elevated temperatures, but rather the mechanical elements. The life of the hard drive is reduced. Elevated temperatures have a detrimental effect on bearings, joints of moving parts and, especially, on read-write heads. Very strong heating can lead to immediate failure of the hard drive.

What should the operating temperatures be?

There are many opinions here, but many agree that from the point of view of the service life of a hard drive, the optimal temperature of a can can be considered (35...45) ° C, and the operating temperature for most modern microcircuits, according to their documentation, is much higher and can reach 125 ° C

Of course, if there are very hot chips, then the service life of the electronics can be significantly reduced. But this phenomenon is quite rare and most likely refers to the miscalculations of the developers.

In addition, disk manufacturers, as a rule, also limit the rate of change in ambient temperature or the rate of change in temperature of the cooling air, which is actually the same thing with air cooling, to values ​​of no more than (15...20) °C/hour. In the documentation for hard drives from various manufacturers, this rate of change is usually referred to as “temperature gradient” or “temperature difference”. See, for example, clause 7.2.1 Temperature and humidity or clause 2.8.2 Temperature gradient, or clause Temperature difference.

It is usually not at all difficult to limit the heating of the can and hard drive electronics chips to the above levels. But not exceeding the specified rate of change in ambient temperature is more difficult. Especially in the first (10...15) minutes after turning on the system unit, when the rate of heating of the air in it is very high. The change in air temperature around the hard drive during this time should not exceed (3...5) °C. Although at first glance this is a bit "extra". But….

Exceeding the considered parameters often manifests itself where, for the sake of minimizing the overall noise of the system unit, the number of fans and their rotation speed are thoughtlessly reduced. Often, in cases in which the area of ​​air intakes for organizing the cooling of hard drives is insufficient or there are none at all, the hard drives are left to “simmer in their own juices” without thinking about their cooling at all.

Conclusion. In general, it is necessary not only to adequately cool both the can with the mechanics and the electronics of the disk, but also not to allow the temperature gradient of the cooling air to be exceeded. Those. create some device or cooling system that performs these (and not only) tasks.

A system is something whole, representing a unity of regularly located and interconnected parts.

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How can you actually take heat away from a HDD?

It is known from theory that the amount of heat per unit time or heat flux q taken from any cooled surface (chip, hard drive, etc.) is described by Newton’s formula:

q=α*S*ΔT(1)

• q - amount of heat per unit of time (unit J/s or W),
• α - heat transfer coefficient, W/m²K,
• S - heat exchange surface area, m²,
• ΔT=T-Tair - overheating or temperature difference between the temperature of the cooled surface T and the coolant temperature Tair (air temperature during air cooling), K.

Simply put, the formula states that the amount of heat removed from any cooled surface is directly proportional to:

• temperature difference between the temperature of the cooled surface and the air temperature;
• cooled surface area;
• heat transfer coefficient.

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Conclusions:

You can improve the cooling of your hard drive (increase the amount of heat removed) using only three methods:

• decreasing the temperature of the cooling air;
• increasing the heat exchange surface area;
• increasing the heat transfer coefficient.

The combined use of these methods dramatically increases the efficiency of the hard drive cooling system.

What does this look like in practice?

Increased heat transfer surface area

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The heat exchange area is usually increased using radiators.

It can be seen that theoretically, to increase, say, double the heat flow (or, what is the same, double the overheating), it is also necessary to double the heat exchange area.

In practice, due to the fact that both the properties of the radiators themselves and the heat transfer from the disk to the radiator are not ideal, a more than twofold increase in the heat exchange area is required to reduce overheating by a factor of two.

In addition, HDDs have almost no smooth surfaces suitable for installing sensible radiators.

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Although it seems not. Almost all hard drives have a flat surface formed by a thin tin - a HDA cover, onto which a solid radiator can be cleverly attached.

But since all the heating elements are fixed on a cast massive base, removing heat from it via a thin tin with a piece of paper pasted to the radiator immediately looks unpromising. The path through the air inside the can and the tin lid is also not particularly attractive.

But this looks much more promising than cooling through a thin tin lid. Especially if you don’t skimp on the thermal paste between the heatsink and the side surface of the hard drive.

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In practice, heat removal from the side surfaces of the HDD is most common.

You can, of course, level and sand the side surfaces of the hard drive (lost warranty!!!). Then install quite decent radiators on them.

In this situation, the cooling of the disk through the side surfaces occurs quite effectively, but not optimally:

• improvement in heat transfer is observed only through the side surfaces, the total area of ​​which is less than 1/6 of the total surface area of ​​the can;
• uneven cooling of the mechanics, because The elements located in the middle of the can away from the radiators (side walls) are not cooled the best;
• Without additional cooling, the electronics are left (although it is also possible, and in some cases necessary, to adapt radiators to the hottest chips).

Well, installing many small radiators on the lower, usually very curved surface is also quite labor-intensive.

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However, recently soft thermally conductive pads have become widespread. They are easily deformed and allow heat to be transferred from the uneven surfaces of the hard drive to the heatsink.

An example of such a design is the CoolerMaster DHC-U43 CoolDrive 3 HDD cooler. Its design differs from the designs of “packless” coolers by the presence of an aluminum casing-air duct. ? It also serves as a radiator, increasing the heat exchange area.

To cool several hard drives at once, use devices like LIAN LI EX-332 HDD Mount Kit, installed in free 5.25” bays.

This type of “basket” has an increased gap between the disks, is closed at the top and bottom and allows for an air flow that evenly “licks” almost the entire surface area of ​​the hard drives and allows for efficient cooling of both electronics and uniform cooling of the can with mechanics.

In addition, this type of “basket” is often equipped with air filters and rubber shock absorbers to combat the noise of hard drives.

Airflow shaping

In the hard drive cooling systems just discussed, ventilation grilles, air intakes, the hard drives themselves, etc. are always obstacles to the movement of the air flow generated by the fan, which has to create some pressure to overcome the resistance to the air flow.

Moreover, the greater the air flow is needed to remove heat, and the greater the degree of turbulence of this flow, the more the cooling system opposes the passage of this air flow, the more work the fan creating this flow has to do. And the more powerful the fan is required to overcome the resistance. The noise generated increases accordingly.

And since the fans themselves (regardless of the rotation speed) form an air flow with a high degree of turbulence, the resistance of a system with a “pressure” fan at the inlet is greater than the resistance of a system with an “exhaust” fan at the outlet.

As a result, hard drive cooling systems with an “exhaust” fan have the following advantages over systems with a “pull” fan:

• at the same speeds of the same fans, a slightly larger air flow and, therefore, slightly better cooling;
• with the same cooling, lower speeds of the same fans are required and, therefore, less noise is obtained.

Air flow thickness

The total thickness of the air flow using “exhaust” ventilation in the HDD cooling system should not be too large, since the air layers farthest from the cooled surface participate little in the cooling process.

On the one hand, here, with a constant air flow rate, the thinner the air flow, the higher its speed and, therefore, the better the cooling of the disk (see paragraph). But in this case, as the cross-sectional area of ​​the air flow decreases, the resistance to the air flow increases, a more powerful fan is required, and noise increases.

On the other hand, if the air is heated mainly near the surface of the hard drive, then the average temperature of the excessively thick air flow passing through the hard drive cooling system will increase very slightly, and such air flow can be used to cool other components of the system unit. But pumping excess air is again a source of excess noise.

Practice has shown that in most cases the optimal flow thickness around typical 3.5” disks is 8-12 millimeters. On the side of the thin tin lid of the hermetic unit, this value can be reduced to 5-8 millimeters.

For 2.5" disks, due to lower heat generation, the thickness of the threads may be smaller. The author cannot give specific values ​​for the optimal flow thickness around 2.5” disks, because I have not conducted any experiments with such disks.

When using “pressure” ventilation, the air flow results in a very high degree of turbulence over the entire cross-section, and its thickness can be several times greater. But again, pumping excess air is a source of excess noise.

Yes, but how much air is needed to cool the disk?

Air flow

There is a simple formula that allows you to calculate with sufficient accuracy the air flow Q in cubic feet per minute CFM (cubic feet per minute), required to remove thermal power W from the hard drive in Watts with permissible overheating ΔT in degrees Celsius:

Q = 1.76*W/ΔT(2)

This relationship clearly shows what performance Q the cooling system must have to remove the required thermal power W using convective heat exchange at a given superheat ΔT.

Other types of heat transfer - heat transfer by conduction (heat transfer through direct contact with the basket or, for example, the walls of the housing) and radiant heat transfer (heat transfer by radiation) are not taken into account here. Moreover, in the presence of gaskets and washers, special shock-absorbing, vibration-isolating mounts or a soft suspension of the hard drive to reduce noise, the contribution of these two mechanisms to the heat transfer process becomes completely negligible. Therefore, they can be ignored.

As an example, let’s estimate the value of the air flow required to remove the average (7...15) W of heat from an overheated hard drive, depending on the assigned tasks (5..15) °C.

The calculated value is

Q = 1.76 * (7…15) / (5..15) = (1…5) CFM.

Based on the found value, the appropriate fans are selected and the air path of the cooling system is designed. However, it must be said right away that in a proper cooling system, almost any fan can provide the amount of air flow to cool one disk, even with reduced power.

True, due to worse heating of air layers remote from the cooled surface and pumping excess air completely past the hard drive, as a rule, a slightly higher air flow value is required. Moreover, the thicker the air flow, the more excess air is pumped. Turbulent flow heats up more evenly, so it is more economical than laminar flow.

Reducing the cooling air temperature

Everything is simple here.

By how many degrees the temperature of the cooling air decreases, the temperature of the hard drive decreases by the same degree.

Thus, the usual options for cooling the hard drive with air heated inside the case are not optimal, although sometimes they are implemented more simply.

If we exclude such “exotic” things as, for example, installing a system unit in a refrigerator or using outside air for cooling in winter, then it is optimal to use outside air to cool the hard drive, i.e. air taken from outside the system unit, and not from inside it, where the air is, by definition, warmer.

Systems that provide the flow of fresh and cold air inside the system unit

To create an air flow to cool the disk, fans of the general cooling system are usually used in the power supply, on the back or top wall of the case, etc.

Such solutions are now used in many modern buildings.

With “exhaust” ventilation, i.e. creating some air vacuum in the case, part of the air sucked in through the ventilation holes is directed to the hard drive.

When using “pressure” ventilation, which creates some excess air pressure in the case to blow over the disk, a separate additional fan must be used, located in front of the disk.

At the same time, the same fan is used in the general cooling system to pump air into the case.

Sometimes special adapter trays are used to install 3.5-inch hard drives into 5-inch bays of the case.

On the front panel they have a fan for blowing the disk with outside air.

There are such devices for installing multiple disks.

Using outside air for cooling allows you not only to automatically meet the requirements for, but also to reduce the temperature of the disk by several degrees.

Systems that provide heat transfer to the outer surface of the hull, cooled by outside air

Such solutions are used quite rarely now. Mainly in fanless cooling systems, for example, in the Zalman TNN500A case.

Here the hard drive has thermal contact with the side wall, which plays the role of a radiator, cooled by outside air.

However, in practice, such a solution, due to the rapid heating of the air in the housing after switching on, as a rule, does not allow meeting the requirements for.

This is what I remember that willy-nilly will have to be taken into account when developing a truly efficient and low-noise cooling system. So let's talk about noise.

To be continued...

A computer failure can bring your business or educational project to a standstill. Almost every employee of a modern company conducts all his business on a computer workstation. Losing access to your computer for even an hour can result in huge losses in daily sales and income. Of course, everyone expects their computer to work without problems all the time. But what most people don't realize is that the most important element of any PC isn't the Wi-Fi, the monitor, or even the keyboard, but the hard drive hidden deep inside the device. It is extremely important to ensure that your hard drive is protected and maintained throughout the life of your computer. If you don't save it, it may crash and take all your data with it.

HDD cooling rules.

The first computers ever made could only operate at a constant temperature, roughly room temperature. To achieve appropriate temperature and humidity conditions and ensure smooth operation of the PC, it was necessary to use special cooling systems. Since then, everything has changed dramatically. Modern computers can operate at higher ambient temperatures, performing millions more calculations per second. Cooling methods for modern computers that have been invented and tested in recent years have been greatly minimized. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages. So that you can choose the one that suits your needs, first familiarize yourself with their features.

Overheating is one of the most common problems that users have with their hard drives. It is important that computer owners understand that overheating is not just a minor inconvenience. Research shows that a hot hard drive is a predictor of hard drive failure. Hard drive failure causes people to lose all their data, especially if there is no adequate backup system. When a professional loses all his data, it can cause huge damage to the business. Overheating is something that's easy to spot: the body of your laptop or computer may feel warm or hot to the touch. Some of the other telltale signs of impending computer failure include:

• Significant loading delay or slow file access.
• Strange sounds - especially loud clicking sounds.
• Fans run longer and louder than usual.
• Data disappears or becomes corrupted.
• "Blue screen of death".

Causes of hard drive overheating

Blocked air flow. Air must flow into the computer for the fans to do their job. Make sure your computer is located where there is nothing blocking air from entering the vents. Faulty fans. When the fan gets dirty, it has to work harder to maintain the proper temperature and overheat the hard drive. Clean coolers every 3-6 months. Dust. Dust not only blocks airflow, but also insulates components that should be cooled by fans. Dust is your enemy! Place your computer in an area that has minimal dust and is easy to keep clean.

Advantages and disadvantages

A common challenge in product development, especially in electronics, is managing temperature for optimal performance. The essence of the task is to develop energy-efficient microprocessors and printed circuit boards (PCBs) that will not overheat. An often overlooked aspect of solving computer thermal management problems is architectural design. Whether it's a single-family home, an office building, or a dedicated server room, architectural considerations can have a huge impact on the thermal management solutions available. To address and reduce the difficulties and inefficiencies caused by heat, engineers use various hard drive cooling systems to control the conditions. These systems can be divided into two main categories: active and passive cooling methods. But what is the difference between them?

Passive cooling

The benefits of passive cooling methods include energy efficiency and lower financial costs. Passive cooling provides high levels of natural convection and heat dissipation by using a heat spreader or heat sink to maximize radiative and convective heat transfer patterns. In other words, passive cooling relies on air flowing through the PC case and its coolers. Passive thermal management is a cost-effective and energy-efficient solution that relies on heat sinks, heat spreaders, heat pipes or thermal interface materials (TIM) to maintain optimal operating temperatures.

Active cooling

Active cooling, on the other hand, refers to cooling technologies that rely on an external device to improve heat transfer. Thanks to active cooling technologies, the flow rate increases during convection, which dramatically increases the rate of heat removal. Active cooling solutions include forced air via a fan or blower, forced liquid, and thermoelectric coolers (TECs) that can be used to optimize hard drive thermal management. Fans are used when natural convection is not enough to remove heat. They are typically integrated into electronics, such as a computer case, or connected to processors, hard drives, or chipsets to maintain thermal conditions and reduce the risk of failure. The main disadvantage of active thermal management is that it requires the use of electricity and therefore incurs higher costs compared to passive thermal management.

Passive HDD cooling systems

Like active air cooling of a hard drive, passive air cooling uses a plate that simulates a large cooling surface on the part. But with passive air cooling, this plate is several times larger than with active air cooling, and this is because there is no fan in the fins that could direct the air where it is needed. The fins should be large enough and there should be enough space between them to allow natural air flow. Cooling fins can be very heavy and sometimes require clamping on top of the part being cooled to prevent damage to the hard drive or board, and to ensure air flow from the cooler reaches them. Passive air cooling is the most energy efficient method because it requires virtually no power to operate.

This method has a major disadvantage: weight. Heavy and large plates must be secured to small parts and hard drives, increasing the overall weight of the computer and reducing the usable space inside the case. Also, the ambient temperature cannot be very high, as this will make passive air cooling ineffective. In many cases, the computer case has 1-2 fans to circulate air inside. The reliability of the system is very high. If the HDD cooling requirements match the system's ability, then this is the number one choice. The maintenance cost is only 0.

Active hard drive cooling systems

The fan supplies fresh air to the cooling plate located above the hard drive. The plate usually has a flat surface, which touches the cooled part on one side, and several ribs are located on the other. These fins increase the surface of the plate and, therefore, its heat transfer capacity. The fan makes circulation faster and more efficient because it removes the thermal surface of the air that forms between the fins. Active air cooling of a hard drive is effective in terms of energy conservation with one major drawback: it can only reduce the operating temperature of the part to temperatures that are always higher than the ambient temperature. This can be a problem when the PC is operating in harsh environments or there are other components nearby that may generate high temperatures during operation.

The reliability of these systems is very high because even if the fan stops working, the system can act as passive air cooling for several minutes. Moreover, when a fan is about to fail, it usually makes a strange sound within a few days, giving the user enough time to replace it. The maintenance costs of this system are low and affordable for everyone.

Water cooling

This is a fairly new trend in cooling systems for PC cases and hard drives. The basic system consists of cooling plates, hoses through which the coolant flows, a small coolant tank, a circulation pump and a radiator. Each component to be cooled has a cooling plate attached to it. It is usually made of copper or aluminum and is a hollow plate with an inlet and outlet for coolant. The circulation pump will circulate the coolant from the radiator to the fins, then to the reservoir and back to the radiator. In the radiator, coolant reduces the temperature. Depending on the type of radiator, water cooling can also be divided into active and passive.

• Passive Water Cooling: In this method, the radiator is made from a long, thin copper or aluminum hose that has fins made of the same material attached to its perimeter in various ways. As the hot coolant passes through the pipe, it is cooled to ambient temperature.
• Active water cooling: With this method, the water is not cooled naturally, but by using other means of cooling, such as small freon Peltier thermocouples.

In some cases, coolant may circulate naturally. To achieve this, the reservoir and radiator must be placed higher than the system's highest cooling plate (i.e. higher than the HDD), the hoses must be larger in diameter, and the radiator must be designed so that coolant can flow through it freely. In general, water cooling can be quite messy when pipe connections fail. The pump also requires a lot of energy to operate, reducing its efficiency, but this can be overcome by choosing a natural flow. On the other hand, with active water cooling the operating temperature can be quickly reduced to ambient temperature or even lower.

The main disadvantage is the reliability of the system, since a pump failure will mean an almost immediate increase in the temperature of the HDD and other PC components, so special safety measures must be taken to improve reliability. Additionally, water cooling has technical issues when trying to apply it to various PC components, such as additional hard drives, memory sticks, north/south bridge chips, etc. Not all parts can be equipped with water cooling fins, which makes this method is not available. Therefore, fans for air circulation inside the case are almost always present in these systems. Installation and service costs are sometimes higher than previous options because regular pump maintenance is required.

Choosing the most suitable hard drive cooling method is associated with certain requirements. Power consumption, ambient temperature, humidity, operating temperature and part housing are the most important parameters to consider when choosing a cooling method. If you have already encountered the choice of a cooling system for your HDD or other PC components, share it with our readers in the comments below the article.

I have been dealing with the issue of HDD cooling for a long time.
The first two hard drives that I had did without it, they weren’t too hot themselves, and I didn’t particularly understand the iron insides of a computer. Then he began to become interested in hardware, assembled a second system unit with his own hands, and became concerned about heating the HDD, because during long-term operation it became quite hot, sometimes almost scalding.
After searching through the solutions available on the market, the 5" panel with a small cooler on the front was discarded, and many options for "belly" coolers were sorted out.
For a while, I calmed down and simply installed a cooler on each hard drive, powered by +5 volts instead of +12 - this way, quiet operation was achieved with good efficiency.
Lately, my main computer has become more and more powerful and at the same time quieter. Against the background of the other cooling elements, the bushings and fan motors on the hard drives began to be heard. In addition, quite a large number of such coolers have already passed through my hands, and often even at +5 volts they continued to make noise - either the motor was rattling with the windings, or the impeller was humming with air... Lottery, in general. Plus, a problem of contamination was discovered (however, coolers in a 5" compartment with a 40mm fan on the front have an even worse problem with this) - the cooler, at its low speeds, managed to get quite a lot of dust under the legs of the microcircuits, I don’t think that this benefited hard drives.

I was wondering what could replace these “buzzers”... There is now a fan on the front panel of most ATX cases, most full-size ATX cases have a 120 mm fan. Why extra coolers on HDDs when there is already a cooler nearby? I tried to remove the fans from the hard drives... The “cans” remained quite hot, but you could hold your hand (monitoring showed 40...47 degrees at room temperature +25), but the chips on the boards were extremely pitiful. Nowadays, the hottest elements on boards are usually the processor and the motor/head driver. Sometimes some other power stabilizer. Just for fun, I measured the temperature conditions of the microcircuits... In a typical modern HDD, the processor heats up to 40...55 degrees at rest, i.e. my hand is already quite hot (my pain threshold is about 45 degrees), the spindle driver is even hotter - at rest it’s usually 45...60, and with a random search the temperature quickly jumps higher and calmly goes beyond 70...80 degrees (measured digitally thermometer). The temperature sensor is usually installed on the board outside the microcircuits and/or in the “bank” and its temperature is lower.

An aluminum radiator can be easily bought in a store, if its dimensions are slightly inappropriate - it is easy to trim off the excess. I haven’t seen thermal pads on sale (I haven’t looked), but they are easy to find in broken CD/DVD drives (through them heat is transferred from the motor driver chips to the device body) or on video cards (between heatsinks and memory chips). If one thickness is not enough, you can dial several.
The materials are quite affordable.

Once I stopped by a well-known radio parts store to pick up parts, I remembered that I needed to pick up a radiator for this project. Picked it up. It's called "HS 530-100". The fins are low, with additional grooves to increase the heat transfer area, the base is thicker than the ribs, one HDD in width - higher than the roof, I estimated it by eye in the store - maybe enough for two hard drives... I bought what I needed. At home I tried the radiator on the hard drives - on all the HDDs I found, it covered all the “hot spots”, while being shorter than the HDD itself. The width for two HDDs was a stretch... But I still decided to cut it to fit two hard drives.

Then I gutted several broken CD-ROMs and pulled out thermal pads from them.

On the occasion of installing a new HDD, I decided to try out the project in action. The hard drives were laid out on the table, with old “belly” coolers twisted off them. Nearby are radiators and thermal pads with thermal paste.
After cutting into two, the radiator was barely enough - the edges were already hanging between the middles of the mounting holes, the screws had difficulty clinging to the radiator.

How it was.
We take hard, look for “hot” spots. You can figure it out even with the HDD turned off - these are usually microcircuits, they are quite large. If the board is upside down (HDD WD or the latest “flat” Seagate), then on the heating or unvarnished areas - on the other hand, microcircuits are soldered to such areas “with their belly” to organize heat dissipation through the board. There are several vias between the pads to improve thermal conductivity.

We place thermal pads on the found areas, estimating the distance between the element and the surface of the radiator. If the thickness is not enough, we make a “sandwich”. We try to make sure that there is no strong pressure on the board, but also that the thermal pads do not dangle. If the thermal pad is sticky, place it as is; if it is smooth, apply thermal paste to the contacting surfaces.

We place the radiator on top, trying not to move it so as not to remove the thermal pads, and screw it on. The threads of the screws are the same as those with which hard drives are usually screwed to the basket.

Check through the light to see if the thermal pads are in place.

Do you want to extend the life of your hard drive? Are you willing to spend an extra 5-10 dollars on a cooling system for it? Let's figure out what options there are.

There are not many types of cooling:

• First of all, this is, of course, air cooling. The vast majority of such systems are a plastic or metal frame with a fan, which is screwed to the hard drive from below. And power to the fan is taken using a special adapter from the free connector of the power supply. There is also an option where a special adapter for mounting a hard drive is installed in the 5.25 slot (this is where the DVD drive fits), and a fan (or fans) is installed instead of a plug on the “facade”
• Secondly, this passive cooling systems. That is, simply a specially designed radiator that is attached to the hard drive, in contact with the heating parts of the hard drive, and removes heat to the environment “by gravity”, due to the large heat transfer area.
• Well, thirdly, we can mention liquid cooling systems. But this is an uninteresting exotic, the practical application of which is practically absent. The advantages of liquid systems include very good thermal efficiency and uniformity of heat dissipation (The exception is modders, overclockers, and other “home-made people”)

Due to my vocation, I often began to solve computer problems related to hard drive wear. And so this article will talk about how extend disk life with data. After all, after a HDD failure, information cannot be saved in all cases. Even if it is possible to return your files, in monetary terms, repairs at service centers will be comparable to the cost of a new computer for office tasks.

There are quite a lot of recommendations for the proper operation of a hard drive, ranging from ensuring good power (buying an expensive power supply) to minimizing external vibration effects on the drive. But today I will share my experience of making the life of a hard drive easier by installing an additional air cooling system on it. After all, the colder the rotating parts, and not only them, the less they are subject to wear. In modern cases, coolers are installed in the front part, which drive air flow from the outside into the computer, blowing at the same time the hard drive. But this is not always enough.

When choosing a cooling device for an hdd, you should take into account that in new models of cases with latches in the drive bays, there may not be enough space for a drive with a cooling unit attached to it.
I turn directly to the description of the process. Some people don’t need my personal experience and will do everything themselves, but for many it will be useful to read and look at the photos before getting involved in all this themselves.
Well, let's get started. Do not forget to turn off the power to the system unit before starting work!!! After removing the side wall, remove the connectors from the hard drive.

Unscrew the mounting screws that hold the hdd in the slide. If necessary, you will have to remove the second side cover to gain access to the screws on the other side of the case. But in my case, the 3.5" drive cage can be removed from the case along with the drives, which you will agree is very convenient.

I’ll interrupt the description with tips on choosing a fan for a hard drive.
First, I advise you to purchase a model with two coolers, because... The fans installed in such a system rotate in different directions. One blows, the other blows out heated air.
Secondly, if all the power connectors in your computer are occupied, then in any case you will have to choose a model with an adapter to simultaneously connect a fan for the HDD and a second device that previously occupied this connector.
Well, it’s also worth taking a closer look at the characteristics of the coolers themselves. If you are sensitive to excessive fan noise, then you should choose coolers with slower rotation speeds. Well, you understand, the faster the fan blades rotate, the more efficient the cooling, but the noise from them is greater. Therefore, you need to choose the efficiency-noise ratio yourself.

Let's move on! To perform the operation of docking a disk with a fan, the first one must already be removed from the system unit. Place the disc on a flat surface, face down, because The cooling is attached to the bottom surface of the hdd, on the controller side. Then we put the fan on top, align the mounting holes and tighten the screws.

It is advisable to have all four pieces to ensure a tight fit of the surfaces and the device does not rattle during operation.

And now ours is attached to the hard drive. Now we return the disk to the case, the main thing is that the cooling device does not interfere with the correct installation of the drive. If all the holes match, congratulations, you have chosen the right HDD fan.
Next, you need to provide power to the coolers of the cooling system. We look for a free molex connector and connect it to the fan connector.

If an unused connector is not found, disconnect any other device that uses the same connection. We connect our new cooling system in its place and then connect the old device (disconnected in the previous sentence) to the free connector that is on the wire from the fan, provided that you purchased it (the fan) with just such an adapter.

The last manipulations with the connectors, we connect the hard drive back. I hope you haven't forgotten which connectors were used on your HDD.
In the last photo you see the final result of a simple procedure installing cooling on hdd.

After starting the computer, visually check the rotation of the impeller of the installed fan. The effectiveness of the work done can be checked by touch, but it is better to use the program AIDA64 , which includes the function of scanning the temperatures of computer components. After installing and launching this program, click on the Computer tab and then go to Sensors. Hard drive readings are indicated at the end of the "Temperature" list. In my example there are three disks. In your case it could be anything, most likely one.

Naturally, if you want to record in numbers how much colder your information keeper has become, this program must be run before installing the cooling system in order to see and remember the “BEFORE” temperature of the disk. And run AIDA64 "AFTER". In this particular example, the heating of the HDD was reduced by 11 degrees.
I’ll stop narrating here, I want this article to be not just reading material, but a guide to action. Take care of your information; it’s better not to let the disk get repaired.