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General discussion

Attaching cooling fan to the outside of an external HD

Aug 5, 2010 1:50PM PDT

Hello forum.

I have an Iomega 1T external HD with a Seagate in it. It's about a year old. It's just about full, and gets alot of use. Some times while using it the aluminum case gets so hot I can barely touch it. I also forget it on alot, but it seems to have an automatic rest mode. It doesn't seem to get as hot when left on but not in use. One way or the other heat is bad.

What I want to do is drill a large hole in the aluminum case, maybe 1-2 inches, and permanently mount a 50mm fan on the side. I want to splice into the power supply wire going to the unit. The power supply is putting out 12volts and 1.5amps. I can't find a 1.5 amp fan. does it matter as long as it's 12 volts?

Discussion is locked

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You don't want a 1.5 Ampere fan.
Aug 5, 2010 10:19PM PDT

You want it to be 12 Volts and lower than 1.0 Ampere by a lot since that power is what is powering the drive. If the fan drew 1.5 or 1.0 Amperes there would not be enough power left over for the drive.
Bob

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Look into...
Aug 5, 2010 10:56PM PDT

Just about all HDs are made from "thermo-ally" metals that conduct heat and dissipate that heat away from the core HD. While a fan will help, I think you maybe better off using a simple household fan(6in.) and be done with it. It would appear what you want to do would suck power away from the HD itself defeating what can be very demanding power needs for an ext. HD. You can look for a new ext HD case kit with fan and remount that ext. HD(alone) in to it.

IDEA! - Take a typical system case fan, route wiring from case in order to plug-in from the Molex connection,(google for what it looks like). The wiring harness if you splice, etc. uses the 12V from the system not the ext. HD own. But, wiring harness from an already made cpu fan(various connection types) can work using an un-used plug. The harness maybe short, so splicing is more about extending the fan to its required area.

http://www.frozencpu.com
http://www.cyberguys.com

-OR- any other online vendor that supplies fans and other goodies. Use cooling as keyword if you google away.

tada -----Willy Happy

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That's seems like lot of work for this;
Aug 6, 2010 3:12AM PDT

How about an external case with fan instead. I got one made by "xtrastor". It seems to work pretty well.

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I have one of those.
Aug 6, 2010 3:17AM PDT
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That enclosure is great...
Aug 6, 2010 3:48AM PDT

Pretty cheap too. But can I put an external HD in an external case? The Iomega has a permanant interface soldered to the seagate HD. I don't have the standard ribbon wire serial port(or SATA for that matter), nor the standard 3 or4 prong power port.

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That's new.
Aug 6, 2010 3:53AM PDT

I have yet to encounter that. Pictures please.

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Pics
Aug 6, 2010 4:07AM PDT

I don't know how to post pics on this forum. Am I not seeing the link or something?

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Try
Aug 6, 2010 4:13AM PDT

Photobucket.com or other places. The forums here are text only for the most part.
Bob

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I don't Have a current account
Aug 6, 2010 4:18AM PDT

I don't Have a current account. The last time I used a picture service was snapfish, which I don't even think exists anymore.

If you'd like to see the unit, it's the Iomega Prestige.

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That would be a first.
Aug 6, 2010 4:41AM PDT

I can't find any posts or pictures to show such a soldered on interface.

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Email
Aug 6, 2010 4:49AM PDT

Username plus aol.com

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It might just look that way.
Aug 6, 2010 10:28AM PDT

Take a closer look. I have seen some that slides in to make the connection, this is especially true with 2.5" hdd.

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CONFIRMED!
Aug 7, 2010 1:55AM PDT
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Maybe time to get another drive also
Aug 7, 2010 2:34AM PDT

You said "drive was almost full, and a year old". Retire drive to casual use, buy a new internal Terrabyte drive and case. -+ $130
drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148433
USB case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182142
USB/ESata (if you have an open Sata port on your motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817709026
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812186052&cm_re=esata_bracket-_-12-186-052-_-Product

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Thanks
Aug 7, 2010 3:54AM PDT

Hey thanks Bob. Didn't mean to be rude to the rest of the forum.

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No Problem.
Aug 7, 2010 4:00AM PDT

I put up that picture so others could see it and know we can call this "case closed?" or open.

Now you have options and can move forward.
Bob