adding a fan blowing across the drive is an excellent idea, and something i've done with faster drives. of course you're just dumping the heat into the rest of the case, and letting the normal fans get rid of it. as you have all the slots full, it wouldn't be bad to add ventilation, i.e. mount the fan so it sucks in outside air, blows it across the drive, and goes out with the other vent air. or you can set the fan up to exhaust and add vent holes on the opposite side of the drive. i'm not familiar with that model, so i don't know if a fan will fit outside or if you'd have to make it ugly and put the fan outside. in any case, you'd be drilling holes in the case to add more ventilation ideally. another option, if you have scsi would be an external scsi drive, or possibly an external ide drive (though it's not common, it can be done). i believe some of the g3 desktops had provisions for adding extra fans.
which model exactly do you have (i.e. original, desktop, mini tower, etc.)? if i know i can check the manual and make better suggestions. if you've got an unused zip bay with better airflow, that might be an option as well. you can definitely get a power splitter cable and run an extra fan or two off the power cable for the drives, fans draw a lot less power than a drive and should be well tolerated, particularly if they lower the case temperature which makes life a lot easier on the power supply, since it's cooling air has already been pre-heated cooling the rest of the case improving airflow should definitely help all around. if none of the above work, and you are comfortable working with electronics and soldering you could, as a last resort, replace the power supply fan with one that moves more air, though this will likely be louder. a lot depends on your preferences as far as aesthetics, noise, and longevity. i have a love hate relationship with fans, i love what they do for reliability, but i hate the noise (particularly since i'm prone to migraine and cluster headaches which makes the fan sound like a jet taking off! it's the only time i power things down since my computer is in my bedroom). Adrian Abraham wrote: ------- > Will it help if I mount a fan near the hard drive to blow air across it > ? can always use the extra power connectors but it will add noise :( > Or perhaps I should just stick with a 5400 rpm 2 Meg cache HD. -------- -- --S363, aka Philip Stortz-- Find your number at : < http://iharder.sourceforge.net/soundex.php>< http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/06/08/MN253740.DTL> Maybe the real "criminals" are those who claim to be working in the interest of "National Security", the last refuge of the scoundrel... -- G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- We have Apple Refurbished Monitors in stock! | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-List list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
