Last night I turned off my computer and pulled out my second hard disk to find that it was quite the hot potato. I have these Kingwin SATA hot swap tray-less rack dealies because they are pretty sweet but they seem to suffocate my HDDs. So my solution is to just add gaping holes to the thing so more air flows around it. Here's what was done so you can do it too!

step 1:
Take the top off. It conveniently provides no structural support so we can just leave it off. Pry the tabs in the back and the whole deal pivots up and back.



step 2:
Add holes. I figured cutting out a big hole in the bottom plus leaving the top off would be sufficient. I chose to just chuck it in the mini mill and route a square out of the bottom. I just eyeballed it and made sure I wasn't severing anything important. The clear part is acrylic since it smells like it when you cut it. A jig saw or rotary tool would also work but this cuts straight even though no one can see the bottom of the rack.



That light is from Ikea and is perfect for a drill press or machine tool.







step 3:
Clean off all the plastic burrs with a file or whatever and its ready for business.




Shove it back in your PC or enclosure, stick in your HDD and enjoy the peace of mind that your data is no longer frying its self into failure. According to Speed Fan, the drive is about 30 degrees F cooler, operating at 100 degrees. But I don't have the second rack above it yet so it is getting quite the breeze from the open bay above. this whole thing takes about 20 minutes and is really basic, take it apart, cut hole, put back in. Wear eye protection

Attached Thumbnails

     

     

Simple
Repeatable
Effectively solved problem
Documented with pics
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-MF