CoolerMaster CoolDrive 8/10. Date Posted 09/08/2002.

Many newer hard drives are running hotter than older models. Certainly many drives which rotate at 10000 rpm or 15000 rpm, can get very hot indeed, without adequete cooling. Step forth the CoolerMaster CoolDrive! Essentially this a large slab of metal that fits into any 5 1/4 inch drive bay, like the one that houses your CD-ROM. Installation takes a few minutes. First you need to screw the hard disk onto a metal tray, which is placed inside the CoolDrive. This is then screwed to the main housing. Once this is done, you can put it inside the computer. Essentially the huge metal housing acts as a giant heatsinks that cools the drive. To aid the cooling there is a small fan at the front of the unit, which draws air in and around the hard disk. You can run it without the fan. However, this reduces the cooling effect. I have to say the fan does make the computer noisier, but this is worth it especially if you are running expensive drives.

In any case the enclosure does reduce hard disk noise, and is thus a worthy alternative to devices like SilentDrive (which reduces noise, but might make the drive hotter). At 15 pounds a pop, the CoolDrive is a cheap way of ensuring your hard drives last as long as possible. You do need free drive bays though, and this might prove to be a problem for some users.