Adding a third hard drive complications?

[Shark Boy]

Hi,

I'm thinking of adding another hard drive with the aid of Promise
Ultra100 TX2 controller card. (I'm not sure if the Ultra133 TX2 would mean
that much in terms of performance.)

System Specs:
P3 1GHz with 512MB RAM
Asus CUSL2-C MB
Geforce2MX
2 Western Digital Hard Drives (80GB and 30GB)
2 Optical Drives (CDRW and DVD-ROM)
Antec SX830 Case
Antec 300W Power Supply (The one that came with the case)

The case is outfitted with three fans drawing air out the back. (2 case
fans + power supply fan) and I have one fan drawing air in. The fan
drawing air in is in front of the drive cage which has 3 bays. I've got
the two existing hard drives top and bottom of the cage with the middle
empty.

My question is would it be safe to add a third hard drive in the middle?
Would three hard drives stacked one on top of each other cause problems
with heat and such? Can my power supply handle this load?

Thanks for your time,

 

[kony]

Hi,

I'm thinking of adding another hard drive with the aid of Promise
Ultra100 TX2 controller card. (I'm not sure if the Ultra133 TX2 would mean
that much in terms of performance.)

System Specs:
P3 1GHz with 512MB RAM
Asus CUSL2-C MB
Geforce2MX
2 Western Digital Hard Drives (80GB and 30GB)
2 Optical Drives (CDRW and DVD-ROM)
Antec SX830 Case
Antec 300W Power Supply (The one that came with the case)

The case is outfitted with three fans drawing air out the back. (2 case
fans + power supply fan) and I have one fan drawing air in. The fan
drawing air in is in front of the drive cage which has 3 bays. I've got
the two existing hard drives top and bottom of the cage with the middle
empty.

My question is would it be safe to add a third hard drive in the middle?
Would three hard drives stacked one on top of each other cause problems
with heat and such? Can my power supply handle this load?

Thanks for your time,

I'm a bit confused... is your Antec case like this SX830?:
http://img.neoseeker.com/a/antecsx830/antecsx830_r_image5.jpg

The hard drive cage in that pic doesn't support having a fan in front
of the drives, or am I wrong? I'd thought the primary difference
between the 830 and 1030 was that the 1030 added a second HDD cage
behind the upper front fan, but on that pic there's only room for 2
HDD if you have a floppy.

Your power supply will likely be fine, but (going by your account of
the HDDs and fan) placing that drive in-between the other two will
negate the benefit of the fan and cause them to run a lot warmer...
how much warmer? I can't guess but I wouldn't risk it.

With three fans in the back but only one in front, your case is has
negative pressure so if you were to use a 5 1/4 to 3 1/2 drive rail
adapter you could mount the drive in a top bay, put a different bay
cover on it (something perforated) and the case's existing airflow
will draw air in through the bay cover to cool the drive. Just don't
leave the bay TOO open to the outside or too much air might be
diverted from the lower case region.



Dave

 

[Shark Boy]

On Tue, 06 Jan 2004 06:37:06 +0000, kony wrote:

I'm a bit confused... is your Antec case like this SX830?:
http://img.neoseeker.com/a/antecsx830/antecsx830_r_image5.jpg

The hard drive cage in that pic doesn't support having a fan in front
of the drives, or am I wrong? I'd thought the primary difference
between the 830 and 1030 was that the 1030 added a second HDD cage
behind the upper front fan, but on that pic there's only room for 2
HDD if you have a floppy.

The hard drive cage has a fan mount on the front of it. It's hard to see
in that picture. It's something like below.

-----------------
DVD-ROM |
| <- external 5.25 bays
CDRW |
-----------------
| <- external 3.5 bays
floppy drive |
-----------------
hd 1 | fan| <- internal 3.5 bays
| |
hd 2 | |
-----------------

So there is a gap between the two optical drives and between the CDRW and
the floppy drive. Is there a prefered post for it? I'm now thinking of
moving the CDRW up a bay and sticking the new hard drive right above the
floppy as I'm not really planning on getting a flash card reader or
something like that.

Your power supply will likely be fine, but (going by your account of the
HDDs and fan) placing that drive in-between the other two will negate
the benefit of the fan and cause them to run a lot warmer... how much
warmer? I can't guess but I wouldn't risk it.

Sigh, perhaps I'm going about this wrong then. Maybe I should think about
an external solution or just getting rid of the 30GB hard drive.

With three fans in the back but only one in front, your case is has
negative pressure so if you were to use a 5 1/4 to 3 1/2 drive rail
adapter you could mount the drive in a top bay, put a different bay
cover on it (something perforated) and the case's existing airflow will
draw air in through the bay cover to cool the drive. Just don't leave
the bay TOO open to the outside or too much air might be diverted from
the lower case region.

I'm guessing then that a hard drive surrounded by optical drives is
alright then? Thanks, I will look into those hard drive mounting kits for
5.25 bays.

Dave

Thanks,

 

[callsignviper]

Hi,

I'm thinking of adding another hard drive with the aid of Promise
Ultra100 TX2 controller card. (I'm not sure if the Ultra133 TX2 would mean
that much in terms of performance.)

System Specs:
P3 1GHz with 512MB RAM
Asus CUSL2-C MB
Geforce2MX
2 Western Digital Hard Drives (80GB and 30GB)
2 Optical Drives (CDRW and DVD-ROM)
Antec SX830 Case
Antec 300W Power Supply (The one that came with the case)

The case is outfitted with three fans drawing air out the back. (2 case
fans + power supply fan) and I have one fan drawing air in. The fan
drawing air in is in front of the drive cage which has 3 bays. I've got
the two existing hard drives top and bottom of the cage with the middle
empty.

My question is would it be safe to add a third hard drive in the middle?

I have an Antec 1000 series case which uses the same hard drive cages as the
800 series cases. I have 3 hard drives in one of my hard drive cages with no
problems.

Would three hard drives stacked one on top of each other cause problems
with heat and such?

Mine hasn't but YMMV. Suggestion: If you decide to add the extra hard drive
move the bottom drive up to the middle. Install the new drive in the bottom
of the cage. That will make installing/removing the IDE cables somewhat
easier.

Can my power supply handle this load?

Yes.


NOTE: Doesn't your case have a fan bracket in the front at the bottom of the
case? If it does and it's empty you might want to consider adding an extra
fan in the front of your case.


--
callsignviper


The truth is out there. You just have to look in the right places and ask
the right questions.

 

[callsignviper]

I'm a bit confused... is your Antec case like this SX830?:
http://img.neoseeker.com/a/antecsx830/antecsx830_r_image5.jpg

The hard drive cage in that pic doesn't support having a fan in front
of the drives, or am I wrong?

Some of the 830's came with the plastic fan bracket installed in the drive
cage. I think it was an assembly glitch at the factory since most of the
original 830s didn't have a fan bracket in the drive cage.

This: http://www.antec-inc.com/pdf/drawings/SX835II.pdf which is labeled
"SX800II Series" shows a fan bracket in the drive cage. The bracket may have
been added after that case had been on the market for a while. FWIW my 3-4
year old 830 case doesn't have that bracket.


--
callsignviper


The truth is out there. You just have to look in the right places and ask
the right questions.