IS it safe to put a Hitachi 7k250 drive into a Smart Drive ?

Silencing hard drives, optical drives and other storage devices

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Archeon
Posts: 24
Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2003 7:26 am
Location: Bruges, Belgium

IS it safe to put a Hitachi 7k250 drive into a Smart Drive ?

Post by Archeon » Sun Nov 16, 2003 5:45 am

Hi all!

I've been doing some research on which serial ATA drive is the best speed/noise/temperature wise and I think that the Hitachi 7k250 series meet all those requirements the best.
(maybe when WD starts shipping FDB drives that will change - side question : does anybody know when this might happen? AFAIK, WD is one of the last HD brands that still doesn't use FDB motors in their drives)

I plan on buying two of those Hitachi drives, and run them in a RAID0 setup. My motherboard supports this.

To silence the drives (almost ?) completely up, I want to put them both in a Smart Drive enclosure unit.

But there's one thing that worries me : the Hitachi drives all have a little hole in them, of which the sticker on the drive specifically warns NOT to cover it. If I was to put these drives in a Smart Drive enclosure, naturally that hole WOULD get covered.

So my question is obvious : has anybody tried this already ? Is it dangerous, or can the warning safely be ignored ?

A second question that originates out of the first question is then : does anybody know WHY the Hitachi drives have that little hole ? They've had it as long as I can remember (even when the drives were still IBM), and AFAIK, they are the only brand that has them. Why is this ?

Thanks a lot !

scalar
Posts: 90
Joined: Sat May 17, 2003 12:54 am

Post by scalar » Sun Nov 16, 2003 7:16 am

It's an air vent, a breather hole. It lets air flow in and out of the drive.

When the drive warms up, the air inside expands, and the vent lets the air out. Then when it cools the air contracts inside and some air flows back in. Without the vent, the drive cover and frame could warp slightly from pressure/vacuum buildup and damage the drive, or minimum lead to head alignment problems relative to the platters.

What they really mean to say is, Do not SEAL this hole, such as with tape or a label.

As long as there is a small air gap where the drive cover is not solidly pressed against another surface, it will be fine in just about any enclosure.

Archeon
Posts: 24
Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2003 7:26 am
Location: Bruges, Belgium

Post by Archeon » Sun Nov 16, 2003 5:37 pm

Hmmm. It's been a while since I've opened my Smart Drive, But I believe the top of the drive is pressed against the aluminum heatsink inside of the Smart Drive. This is a flat plate of aluminum, not ribbed. So you think this shouldn't be a problem? As longs as a little air can get to the hole, that should be enough?

Thanks a lot!

al bundy
Posts: 667
Joined: Thu Feb 20, 2003 5:38 pm
Location: Chicago, IL

Post by al bundy » Mon Nov 17, 2003 1:41 am

Archeon wrote:Hmmm. It's been a while since I've opened my Smart Drive, But I believe the top of the drive is pressed against the aluminum heatsink inside of the Smart Drive. This is a flat plate of aluminum, not ribbed. So you think this shouldn't be a problem? As longs as a little air can get to the hole, that should be enough?

Thanks a lot!
It should not be a problem.

8)

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