Removable Hard Drives

[Zapper]

Does anyone use removable hard drives (mobile racks, HD cases)? I'm trying to decide if I need one with or without internal fans. The one I'm looking at has an aluminum body. I'll be using a Western Digital 20GB 7200rpm hard drive with it. I've heard stories that overheating in one can kill a hard drive, but I don't want the extra fan noise if it's not necessary. I'm planning to have them in my desktop PC and also inside my arcade cabinets.

[mr.Curmudgeon]

I've been thinking of getting one of these: http://www.kingwin.com/pdut_detail.asp?LineID=&CateID=27&ID=186.

I've heard nothing but good things. I'd personally recommend one with a fan (like the one above) for bigger, faster drives (ie: 7200rpm), since they tend to run HOT. I wouldn't want to run the risk of losing data without a fan.

[fredster]

I had one in an old 486 once.  I didn't take it out much. I was going to, but I didn't develop the need.

What's the application?

[DaemonCollector]

I have a hot swap harddrive bay with an extra tray. Anyone interested?

[patrickl]

I use removable drives for an extra drive. These extra drives spin down when not in use. If it is running it actually runs quite hot. I'm using an aluminium based bay without fans.

[Matthew Anderson]

I use Lian-li removable trays. They have fans and an aluminum bottoms. They stay pretty cool. I use 1 hard drvie for work and the other for games and I really like to separate the two. So it works very well for me.

[GGKoul]

Yep. you need to get a fan for sure.  As there is less ventilation in a removable tray.

[Zapper]

Thanks for the info, I'll get one with a fan and not take any chances. It's going to be nice switching from WinXP and Win98 whenever I want.

[Sephroth57]

why would you need to do that?