HDD Cooler Broken!

[StarLancer]

My HDD cooler broke!
I had it for about 3 years now and if finaly just broke.

I had an antec one that seemed to work great.
Hdd temps never hit above 36C.

ive been lookin at pickin up another cooler for my GFs PC but cant decide what to get.

the ones ive been lookin at are:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835119062
and
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835888208

Any comments on either of them or a suggestion with a new non-water hdd cooler?

 

[Akhen]

I had the coolermaster on my old rig, works great
dont know about that other one though

 

[Czar]

http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/code_list.asp?code=019

get this, it will never break

 

[Cerb]

Originally posted by: Czar
http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/code_list.asp?code=019

get this, it will never break

QFT

 

[StarLancer]

Im not into fanless cooling.
Id rather deal with a few fans for lower temps than no fans.

 

[Cerb]

Then let these parts break again (I'm surprised it lasted 3 years, actually, which those itty bitty fans--you must not have much dust!). You do not need a fan to cool hard drives, except for the fan that gives your case intake air. I can match your 36ºC with no fan directly blowing on the HDD, and no cooling on the HDD of any kind (it has NO contact to the case, so isn't even getting that), even through a virus scan. However, I thought mine out, spent time cabling it, and spent time testing it. All of my case's air comes from a Nexus 120mm fan pushing in, at 5v.

A beefy cooler is not the answer. A simple, good cooler, and getting your case done right, is (well, I use none, but that obviously isn't going to work for you ).

Why do you need them cooled?
What case do you have?
How bad is the air flow (obviously it's not very good)? Why?
How many HDDs are you trying to cool?
Got pics of the inside of your case?

 

[StarLancer]

I dont NEED a Hdd cooler persay but i like my internal components to be nicely cooled.
I dont know the type of case i have its something i bought before i moved to Indiana, it does have 2x120mm fans (intake.outtake)
Airflow is reasonable concidering its a cheapy Antec fan i bought with the case.
I only have 1 HDD Seagate Baracuda 120gb Ultra ATA100
No pics as i dont have a digi cam.

My cables are pretty neat... not like some peoples but it doenst block much/any airflow. My PSU cables which hang to the bottom are all... i cant think of it... they are wrapped up so they are rounded

One other thing is that i dont like my HDD so close to my PC Speaker. I mean, i know its gonna be safe but sometimes im a worry wort and this is one of those times.

 

[Czar]

think of it this way

all materials conduct heat, metals and air

what a fan is doing is blowing air over the hd so it can absorb some heat and move away
what the zalman is doing is pushing metal close to the hd so the metal via the heatpipes move the heat to the top where the large surface area transfers it to the air, hot air rises and should be blown out of the case via the power supply fan or something else. Metal transfers heat alot faster than air and whats important is keeping the hd cool.

what the zalman does also is use rubber pads so the disk doesnt shake the case, more silent, as well as remove vibration from the case coming to the hd, therefor longer life span

 

[Cerb]

The Zalman cooler adds extra effective thermal mass, and surface area, and with the heatpipes, can draw some heat out, and redistirbute it, too. It also has an advantage (but don't tell companies like ThermalTake this!) of not being huge, with densely-packed fins, so normal case air flow can be effective, rather than requiring a fan. Finally, it does not preculde the sue of fans, and there are some under-drive fans that would work well, and still keep everything inside the case and behind a bay cover (since, without using one of those big-heatsink-windtunnel-things, you'll need a regular bay cover).

The Evercool you linked has no heatsink, so is just relying on the fan, and cramping the whole thing. I wouldn't be surprised if it will provide worse performance in a case with decent cabling.

The Coolermaster has a heatsink, but nothing special, and is still cramped, relying on the fans.

Antec's (SVC sells it, if you want another) has big heatsinks to the side, and doesn't have the cramped enclosure thing going on, but still takes up a lot of room that would normally allow some light free air flow.

Since you say the case has good air flow and cabling, the Zalman should work very well all by itself, and just as importantly (please excuse me for a moment while I curse all the mobo makers using chipset fans these days, instead of big heatsinks), one less thing to fail.

Another option would be the Aerocool HB101, which is basically like the Zalman, but it does not suspend the HDD, and has been taking steroids (it takes the 'throw extra metal at it' solution, which, at 2.5x the mass of the Zalman, actually starts to work). It consistently outperforms the Zalman, as well (but again, the vibration goes straight to the case).