HGST 6TB Drives Run Much Hotter Than WD RED 2TB Drives

[joeschmuck]

I don't have a thermal imager, the last one I used was on a submarine while wearing a Fire Fighting Ensemble (code for hot ass suit). I do have an IR thermometer but that is not the same thing.

 

[Constantin]

Firefighting in a constricted space while wearing bulky clothing all while being at risk of being crushed instantaneously! Sign me up!

A former colleague served the chemical needs of a nuclear reactor on a 688. Made for interesting stories re: how to deal with living with a bunch of folk in a confined space for months at a time. Or getting trapped in a machinery space due to the hull contracting during a dive...

Recently bought a really good book on the 688s, was amazed by the illustrated torpedo loading process. Sliding the fish down sideways makes sense, but seeing all those floors come up to make that happen is a sight to see!

 

[joeschmuck]

Sub life is a unique one, that is for certain. Did it for 20 years and enjoyed most of it. Lots of sea stories. One thing I liked while in the Navy was being able to just tell people your opinion or thoughts without worry of offending someone. Well okay, we didn't care if we offended someone, being frank was always the best course of action because in a real emergency you need to depend on your fellow shipmates and if they can't handle the stress of someone not handling them with kid gloves then they don't belong there. Real emergencies are very stressful and trust me when I say this, you can easily tell the difference from a drill/training over a true emergency. Little tonal inflections in a voice. It's not like in the movies where you hear an announcement "Fire in the water closet, This id a drill". They never say "this is a drill". But you know the difference. One time during a fire onboard a fella showed up in his underwear and put out the fire. Had it been a drill he would have been wearing a fire suit first. The fire was in the laundry and it actually does happen periodically. There were people showing up in fire suits but the fire was out by the time they got there.

Memory lane, sometimes it's a nice trip.

 

[Constantin]

Coming back to the HGSTs, I'm considering the sheet metal route as well as an excuse to acquire a vacuum former. I reckon that the vacuum forming approach will be slightly safer on account of the plastic being non-conductive. Plus, it's a great toy for papa!

I'd like to direct all air flow over the board by blocking off some of the PCIe slots in the new enclosure as well as by creating a constricted tunnel over the motherboard, just as supermicro does with some of its motherboards. Otherwise, between surface boundary effects and typical air flow behavior, I doubt that the motherboard will see the cooling it deserves - and needs - to make reworking the smart fan controller a reality.

But first confirm that it works by mocking it up with cardboard... or make it from fiberglass. Have some of that still. Not see-through though!

 

[joeschmuck]

I think using vacuum forming is a pretty neat way to create a positive air flow where you desire it. You can make a vacuum table easily enough with some wood and a wet/dry vac. If you could force air exactly where you want it then that is a great idea. I'm not sure just having an air flow across the board is good enough, you might need to make it more like air jets, holes which blow air down on the motherboard especially where some of the components get hot. I say this because I'm thinking or air turbulance, but I could be simply over thinking it too. But I don't think I'll be doing anything like that.

Dang it, I just went down to the basement to look for a scrap piece of metal and I forgot that I threw it all away while cleaning up a few months ago. Well I do have a pair of license plates :). Naw, the unit will go back to the basement with the foam installed until I can buy some sheet metal or just a scrap piece from an HVAC shop. Oh, I could get some from work, one of the buildings is being torn down soon so I could go cut a small section of ducting out and use that. Sounds like the plan has been made. But do I go back to work early and cut it out or wait until after the holidays? Guess I'll have to think about it. I could go back to work for half a day on Tuesday. It also saves me vacation time. That sounds like a Win - Win situation.

 

[Constantin]

Mocking it up in fiberglass is likely my first step. For one, the stuff is relatively cheap (no vacuum-forming table required) and if I ever feel like I should go down the vacuum-forming route then I can use the fiberglass mold as a positive for the plastic to get sucked onto. The necessary modifications are pretty basic, i.e. drill a few hundred holes in the fiberglass for good contouring.

 

[pschatz100]

I have fixed the problem. It was purely an air flow issue and a few small pieces of foam pipe insulation fixed it.

What did I do, well I evaluated the air flow which meant I removed the front cover to access the fans. While I was examining the fans I noticed that I could feel a lot of air coming out the sides which actually should have been an obvious thing to see originally but I see it clearly now. So the majority of the air flow was going around the drives (path of least resistance), not through them. I immediately saw the temps lower to two drives at 29C and two drives at 30C. Major improvement. Next I dropped the fan voltage back to 7VDC and started a scrub and after running this for just over an hour my temps are 31C to 33C.

The long term fix will be to take a sheet of galvanized metal (typically used in HVAC systems) and cut it to shape and then screw it into place using four screws (or I have this double sided automotive tape, sticks like epoxy) ensuring most of the air flow is directed through the hard drives. Doing this will allow me to remove the foam tubing and give it a much cleaner look. I'll take photos of the case modification.

Photos:

The first photo is of the left side of the case, notice the gap between the front of the case where the fans mount and the side of the hard drive cage. This is about a 1" gap and allows air to flow around the drives, not through the air flow holes in the side of the drive cage.
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This is the backside of the drive cage, you can also see the gap, note the silver standoff, this is the section I'm talking about.

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And here is a front view of the case.
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Here is the item I'm inserting...
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And here is what it looks like when I have installed these two pieces of foam to direct the air flow.
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Note that the holes blocked in the front are not important, it's the fact that the air flow is blocked from escaping out the gap between the rear of the fans and the hard drive cage. I could get a single large 200mm fan in and air flow would use these presently blocked holes.

I replaced a WD Red 2TB with an HGST 4TB, and the HGST runs 11 degrees hotter than the RED's. The RED's run 35-37 degrees and the HGST runs at 48.

I have a case with a layout similar to your's and I never thought about the air flow going around the disks...

Thanks for the pictures.

 

[Constantin]

It’s all about the air flow.

Getting it to flow evenly with a fan is one thing. Getting to desired air flow patterns with just convection-induced “float” is a whole different level of crazy.

I once had the pleasure of designing a zero delta-p intake/flue terminal for a outdoor water heater. Good for 40+ mph winds from all directions with all sorts of exterior features influencing air flow patterns. Without the benefit of a fan to ensure good combustion, that was a 6-month problem.

 

[joeschmuck]

I have a case with a layout similar to your's and I never thought about the air flow going around the disks...

Some airflow will go around the drives unless you block the path and force it where you want it. With my little modification I am actually able to get more airflow across the other components as well.

Mocking it up in fiberglass is likely my first step.

Fiberglass is fairly easy to work with, you just need to create a mold to form it on. I used fiberglass for my model airplanes to make small things like a cowling. Once you have perfected the form you could then use carbon fiber, now that would look super nice, better than vacuum formed plastic, and you are doing the same process as fiberglass.

 

[Constantin]

Carbon fiber does looks super nice but you also have to be super careful around electronics with it.

Unlike regular fiberglass, carbon fiber is conductive. Thus, you can't have it touching any components and will have to coat it carefully with conformal or similar coatings to prevent loose fibers from detaching and raining down on the motherboard during use...

I reckon I'll stick to the fiberglass for the functional aspect and "upgrade" to plastic if I ever have a hankering to dress up something that I hope I will rarely see.

 

[joeschmuck]

Unlike regular fiberglass, carbon fiber is conductive.

Just another minor challenge that I'm sure you would overcome.

 

[Constantin]

Yes... with lots of blue smoke. Good excuse to buy a next-gen motherboard!