ok i want to do this mod, but i have no clue where i can get these aluminum plates. Would they have em at Home Depot by any chance? What about drilling the holes? I have no power tools so i cant do it myself.
[addsig]

Leon here http://beta.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=44 got his from a sheet metal place, I guess a bigger hardware store would have them. I'm planning on getting a die cast Aluminium case for about 30AUD and lining that with Car acoustic foam, sticking some thermal paste inbetween the top of the HDD and the outside Al panel and then sticking a big passive heatsink on that as well, I think it'll give noise reduction and cooling results comparable with the HDD sandwich, tell u guys how it goes

Does cooling of the hard disk really matter? I just stuck my thermal probe on top of my Seagate disk and noticed the temperature doesn't exceed the upper limit mentioned in PDF specifications and that was sufficient for me. Plus if you've got your disk inserted into a 3.5 inch bay next to your floppy, isn't it already touching a lot of aluminium which already acts as a heat sink?

Well I think that cooling matters a bit to me , personally I think that the cooler a computer runs the better, but now I am willing to sacrifice a bit of cooling power to get a more quiet computer, so the HDD case I think may be the best option

Well what are you suggesting? That the cooler your hard disk is the faster it will read/write?? I figure if the hard disk's temperature doesn't exceed the upper limit set by its manufacturer, then what's the issue?

Sort of like with CPUs. I'm tried of thinking my Thunderbird should be running at 45 degrees C. Hell, it's at 55, 56, with my Zalman making not a peep of noise and that's just fine and dandy. And it stays there, even while playing Unreal Tournament.

Oh I see, you want to sandwich your hard disk for cooling because you'll be stuffing it with some foam for noise reduction. Aha -- I just read the Hard Drive Silencing: Sandwiches & Suspensions article (: Sorry, I'm still new here (: Man, if you can afford it, the Barracuda is the way to go. I love it.

In my attempts at quieting my PC I tried many noise reduction methods. Ultimately the only solution is noise replacement. Actually the best solution is to buy quiet components from the start.

The lifetime of the spindle motor and bearings -- higher temperatures mean reduced reliability (and as the bearings degrade it can mean even more heat generated). It's not a sharp cut-off at the manufacturer's recommended limit either, the reliability gradually falls as temperatures rise. Most drives now actually incorporate temperature sensors to monitor the drive temperatures.

-Guppy

My experience with DTEMP and HDDs (which ones have sensors/which don't):

Maxtor D740X (FDB) - Yes
Seagate 'Cuda IV - Yes
IBM Deskstar 60GXP - Yes
WD 300BB, 400BB - No

Also, I believe all the drives above have an upper limit of 50°C, where the 'Cuda's spec is 60°C.

Queue

I know IBM 60GXP is stated to have an upper limit of 55C. Mine's usually around 46, kind of hot.

My 75GXP imploded when it got a few degrees over 40. Had to RMA it.

Loosing a hd is a bigger mess than you'd expect. I'd be willing to give it likeness to loosing a bit of your own identity, that's how important my data is to me anyway.

the large yield of failing hard drives was not attributed to temperature, and if your data is that important, there is a thing called backup or mirroring.

Actually hyum, I think it's directly related to temperature, as temperature rises, the platters expand thus forcing the heads to recalibrate (don't know if this is scsi only? if so, then it's even worse) and in time imperfections in reads and estimated length to surface (platter) will come.

That's why you get/got those weird sounds from 'dying' ibm's.

Yup, backup, would do that if I had tapes etc. But since I don't have them, or anything equivalent (cd-rw, spare hd big enough or even money) it's kind of hard at the moment.