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How to get my external HD to shut up
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Professional Poster
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Minneapolis, MN
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Offline
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I have an external 4.26 GB SCSI hard drive in a SCSI case that I use for my music and OS 9 (meaning I rarely use it). The hard drive will spin down if it's not in use for a while, but there's a fan on the case that is always on. It's really annoying, because I want to be able to always leave the drive on. Otherwise, if I want to access anything on the drive, I have to restart. That wasn't a problem with OS 9, when I always shut the computer down, but now that I just have it sleep, it's really annoying. I have to turn off the drive at night to sleep. I kinda want to just have the case open with the fan always off, because that would probably keep it cool enough. Would it be safe to just snip the wires connecting the power to the fan?
BTW, the fan is in the back, behind the drive and next to all the cords and SCSI plugs and stuff. It's not in line with the drive.
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"That's Mama Luigi to you, Mario!" *wheeze*
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Utah
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Offline
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The fan isn't really for cooling off the hard drive, it's more to vent the powersupply in the case. Newer external firewire hard drives move the powersupply outside of the case and allow for fanless operation, hard drives themselves are not all that hot. Drives that run above 7200rpm do get rather warm, but I've never used a 10k or above speed drive (they are usually high end SCSI drives) So I can't really comment on them.
I also have an external 3.2 Gig SCSI drive in an old style external case with the powersupply built in. The fan died a year ago. I still use the drive for backing up data, and I've left it on by accident for several days without a problem, but I make an effort to shut it down when it's not in use.
Basically it seems like a crap shoot. I dunno if SCSI drives run warmer then ATA drives, I think it all depends on RPM speed. You could buy a newer case with an external powersupply.
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Work: 2008 8x3.2 MacPro, 8800GT, 16GB ram, zillions of HDs. (video editing)
Home: 2008 24" 2.8 iMac, 2TB Int, 4GB ram.
Road: 2009 13" 2.26 Macbook Pro, 8GB ram & 640GB WD blue internal
Retired to BOINC only: My trusty never-gonna-die 12" iBook G4 1.25
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Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Socorro, NM
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Offline
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If possible, I would unplug the fan instead of snipping the wire, so that you can plug it back in if something starts smoking. Also, keep in mind what the temperature in your room is; if it is cool I doubt that you will have any trouble. Good Luck!
-King_Rat
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-King Rat
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Madison, WI
Status:
Offline
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</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Originally posted by King_Rat:
<strong>If possible, I would unplug the fan instead of snipping the wire, so that you can plug it back in if something starts smoking. Also, keep in mind what the temperature in your room is; if it is cool I doubt that you will have any trouble. Good Luck!
-King_Rat</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Don't unplug the fan. I have an external Firewire enclosure with a built-in power supply. The fan was really noisy (to the point that I got it replaced). Anyhow, for a while I tried running with the fan unplugged, and the case got pretty hot. The fan is there for a reason <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />
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