Does anyone have any "hard info" on whether airflow above a drive is more important than airflow below it?
I'm in the process of mounting 2 x 3.5" HDDs in a single 5.25" bay in an HP N36L microserver. The bay is intended for an optical drive, and so airflow in that position isn't great. Putting 2 (mirrored) drives in there is likely to make things get a little warm. The way that the physical mounting works out, I've a choice between the upper drive having virtually no airflow above it, or no airflow below it.
Although a "knee jerk" reaction might be to go for airflow above, all the internal heat-generating components are fixed to the bottom of the drive, so lower airflow might be better. On the other hand, the circuit board insulates the lower surface and breaks up airflow, so the effectiveness is reduced through that.
So - does anyone know of any actual tests that have been done?
Thanks
I'm in the process of mounting 2 x 3.5" HDDs in a single 5.25" bay in an HP N36L microserver. The bay is intended for an optical drive, and so airflow in that position isn't great. Putting 2 (mirrored) drives in there is likely to make things get a little warm. The way that the physical mounting works out, I've a choice between the upper drive having virtually no airflow above it, or no airflow below it.
Although a "knee jerk" reaction might be to go for airflow above, all the internal heat-generating components are fixed to the bottom of the drive, so lower airflow might be better. On the other hand, the circuit board insulates the lower surface and breaks up airflow, so the effectiveness is reduced through that.
So - does anyone know of any actual tests that have been done?
Thanks
