USB 2.0 External Enclosure Cooling thoughts

[Nick Codignotto]

Hello folks.

I just bought a ByteCC ME-740 external enclosure for my 250GB drive.
After a few hours of use with the units stacked on top of one another, I
noticed that I could fry an egg on the chassis of the top drive. It was
HOT! I wrote to ByteCC about the heat problem and they suggested I point
a fan at the devices and turn them off when not in use. That seems like
a non-ideal solution to me.

The units themselves are made of aluminum (which I hear is a good
conductor of heat for external enclosures) and are very attractive. The
design is very sturdy.

First, a question. Can't I have the drives shut off automatically when
not in use? My Windows XP power management settings don't seem to affect
these drives. Is there a utility available that will shut off the drives
(spin down) when not in use?

Second, an interesting solution to the cooling problem. I have this
metal board I use for defrosting meat and fish. If you put an ice cube
on it, the ice cube immediately begins melting. It's a pretty dramatic
effect. Anyway, I flatly rest each drive on this board and after 24
hours of continuous operation the drives never overheat!

I can send a picture of the setup if anyone is interested.

Nick

 

[Dave_s]

Hi Nick,

Can you send by email a picture of your cooling plate setup?
Who did you buy the metal plate from? What is it's cost? How large?
Thank you, Dave_S

 

[NSN]

Consumer's did an evaluation of these cooling plates a while back.

Nothing special about them .. they are just 1/4" thick aluminum with a
black surface. They just conduct heat or cold away from the item
placed on them. Sort of like a heat sink without fins. It would
probably be better just to buy a very large "real" heat sink if one
had the room.

Norm