Cooling needed for 7200rpm drives?

[bruincal]

I have two Western Digital hard drives stacked on top of each other in my system. The one on top is a 40GB UATA100 drive at 7200rpm. The one on the bottom is a 100GB UATA100 drive at 7200rpm. I used to use the 100gb in a different computer, but I noticed that ever since I put it into this system, its been running loud and with low, high pitched noise. I opened my case after my system had been on for about 4 hours, and both hard drives are burning hot. The 100gb on the bottom is even hotter than the 40gb on top. I think the 100gb is not getting enough ventilation because of it being sandwiched by the 40gb. I've looked around and these stores sell these so-called hard drive coolers, with fans that cool the drives. Do these work, and are they necessary?? My case is a Gateway case, so I would think that they thought of cooling issues with hard drives stacked on top of each other...

 

[ZZZZZZ]

The fans work but the first thing you can try is moving the HD to a 5.25 bay, where it isn't so confined. If you internal temps are a little high then you should cool the HDs, but if they aren't that high you don't have to cool them. Remember though, the cooler the part is the better it will function and the longer it will last. Heat is a big enemy of any electrical/Electronic part.

 

[cholley]

hard drive coolers are primarily for high speed scsi drives, just find another spot for it in your caseor add some cheepo case fans to improve your flow