Barracuda XT, Barracuda, Barracuda Green, DiamondMax and other desktop SATA and IDE drives

[hans_ctba]

I recently bought a 3RSys case, which apparently comes with HDD Vibration dampers, which take form of some springs upon which the drives are fastened. I have 2 ST31000340AS 1TB drives mounted on this case.

A picture of the hard drive cage is below:

Link to Imageshack - the dampers

Are there any risks to the hard drives when they operate mounted on such springs? I feel them vibrating when they are operating, though the case is really isolated from their movements...

Best Regards,

Hans

Message Edited by hans_ctba on 10-15-2009 07:36 PM

Message Edited by hans_ctba on 10-15-2009 07:37 PM

[fzabkar]

I'm wondering whether the cooling would be affected. In a standard installation, wouldn't the metalwork act as a heatsink???

Message Edited by fzabkar on 16-10-2009 03:14 PM

[hans_ctba]

Regarding cooling, I'm not worried, because in front of the HDDs there's a speed-adjustable 120mm fan, right now both HDDs are on and I'm moving stuff around and a temp. sensor attached to SATA2 measures 27°C (80°F) right now.

My worry is really their oscillation. It's very small, imperceptible unless you touch them, but I can fell them vibrating sometimes (probably when the heads are being moved around). Curious, isnt'it? I guess I'll only be 100% sure when I attach an accelerometer to the things...

Hans

[fzabkar]

When you say "a temp sensor attached to SATA2", are you referring to your own external temperature sensor? If so, be aware that modern drives have their own internal temperature sensors. They can be accessed via SMART diagnostic software such as the following:

HD Sentinel:

http://www.hdsentinel.com/

HD Tune:

http://www.hdtune.com/download.html

CrystalDiskMark:

http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskMark/index-e.html

See this article for SMART info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T.

As for the oscillation, I believe that repeatable sinusoidal oscillation is accounted for in the design of the voice coil servo. If you look at the PCB in the following article, you will notice a 2-axis piezo shock sensor (aka accelerometer) oriented at 45 degrees, near the bottom LH corner:

http://hddscan.com/doc/HDD_from_inside.html

These shock sensors (some drives have more than one) are also used for free-fall detection.