Using a 7200 RPM hard drive- too hot?

Hey Steve,
Here's a discussion from:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6805878&#6805878
">Other forums say that "modern" 7200rpm drives do not get dangerously hot. How modern is 2002?
Well if it were me and wanting to save everything I could I would go ahead. When this came up before I suggested putting a wrapped copper heat sink around the drive. I would at least put a thermal pad between the drive and the mass store cage to maximize heat transfer. (this is what's done in the eMac) If you did that you'd probably want to do the same thing between the cage and the divider panel.
I would then monitor the drive temp and if I felt it was too high I would go to a wrapped heat sink.
still too high - mini fan scab power off the 12 V supply to the drive.

When this was brought up before I read a study that said that there was no correlation in drive temps and failure rates."

Also, has anyone added any fans to the inside case of their slot loader?

I did this. Mounted a 12V squirrel cage fan in my son's iMac 500. It was just below the upper vents. I scabbed power off the 12V from the hard drive.
It worked in there for about two years but I noticed it was kind of noisy even tho' that's the quietest type of fan.
Later I thought you could mount a more conventional type directly over the back of the HD mounting cage.

However in all these iMacs the most common point of failure is in the upper part of the iMac. ( The PAV board ) Most often this is due to heat buildup and involves the high voltage capacitors and flyback transformer. That was actually why I mounted that fan in the upper section.

Richard

Message was edited by: spudnuty

If it's a reasonably recent drive, there is no problem. However, old drives (from when 7200 RPM was new and considered "fast" instead of "regular") at that speed tend to run hot. I had one that was almost too hot to handle comfortably after it had been running; I would not put that one into an iMac G3. Most of those articles about 7200 RPM drives being too hot come from that time. However, I have another more recent 120GB drive that barely feels warm; that drive puts out less heat than the original 5400 PRM drive.

Not so coincidentally, the old hot drives tend to also be noisy.

Seems like a 60GB Deskstar that was original equipment from a Power Mac G4 Digital Audio may fall into the old category. My really hot drive (mentioned above) was a Deskstar too. Since it's a Power Mac G4 and easy to open, you should touch the drive on the top side after it has been running and spinning for a while. If possible, boot from it, because that's how it will be used in the iMac.

If it feels uncomfortably hot, don't use it in the iMac. If it just feels warm, it should be fine.

I have been running a Western Digital 120GB 7200 RPM Hard Drive in my iMac G3 (slot-loading) since September 2006 with no problems. New PATA hard drives are very inexpensive right now, so it would probably be worth it to buy a new hard drive.

If you're worried about heat and want a faster drive maybe consider a Solid State Drive? They can be expensive but you don't have to worry about your iMac plastic melting. I've ordered off eBay an adaptor that allows me to connect a compact flash disk to where my hard drive is supposed to be. It was quite cheap so I'm giving that a go to see if it's faster.

Or check Best Buy - Fry's electronics for a thin laptop fan.
It'll just lie on the table fits between the iMac's 4 feet.

Cost = 25 - 35 USD. I got the dual fan for $27

t.d.

ive added a fan in my 350 slot load, but then took it out as i thought it seemed too loud for such a great mac! the hottest it ever gets is about 52celscius, so i wouldnt think it was too hot, as it overheats at around 7.celsius i think.

you prbly dont need a fan eveen with 7200rpm drive.

Po-en