Harddrive Enclosures

[Spare-Flair]

I have a Bytecc Aluminum HDD enclosure but it's sealed. There is no ventilation and all I can hope for is passive heat disappation through the aluminum.

There are not vents or fans or louvres. Is it safe for my 200GB 7200RPM Seagate to be inside it? I've used it for 2-3 months and the exterior feels warm to the touch but seeing all these other enclosures that have cooling in them, I'm worried about my drive inside.

I understand drives need to breathe and have air-holes. Certainly, there is some air inside the enclosure, but it is trapped inside.

Is this safe?

This is the enclosure I have:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-145-334&depa=0

 

[BillR]

The “air hole” in a drive is to compensate for altitude correction, not for cooling so I don’t see that as an issue.

The way the case you posted looks, it would appear to be it’s own heat sink. From what I have seen, drives shipped in similar cases right from the factory seem to use this as their cooling technology as well.

I should think the case being warm would be normal; drives create a lot of heat. In your case (no pun) the ambient room air is doing your cooling for you.

Luck

 

[tiebird321]

the drives run at about 105f(~42c) inside of that enclosure
its fine for long term with that drive

i have a pair of maxtor 200's in similer connectland branded enclosures and they have been solid for the past year now

 

[Dephcon]

they're made with aluminum to dispense the heat