On a tangent to this subject, I have six computers here in the office on a
network.  The server is a Pentium Pro 200 that is absolutely full of SCSI
devices, the same Plextor 12/20 that Russ referred to, as well as a DAT
drive, JAZ drive, and three Ultra SCSI hard drives.  Russ mentioned heat and
his solution, an excellent one, too.

This system became so hot that the power supply in the old full tower case
failed.  Prior to its failure, I noticed that the air blowing from the
outlet vents was quite hot...enough to keep the temperature in the office
about 10 degrees hotter than the rest of the house.

My solution?  I really wanted to get a tremendously huge server case that
had a lot of fans, but the thought of spending $250-$300 for such a thing
put me off.  Instead, I bought a mid-tower case for about $30, a 50 pin high
density external to internal SCSI cable converter and an external SCSI cable
and put the hard drives in the smaller case.  Now, the temperature in the
office hasn't changed too much, because the same amount of heat is being
produced, but it is dissipated from the cases a LOT faster than before.  The
air coming out of both cases is much cooler and none of the components runs
hot to the touch.

I think that my entire investment ran to about $60 for all three parts, and
besides being much safer for the equipment, it looks kind of cool, too!  You
can get a look at how it worked out on the web at
http://adsl24.bois.uswest.net/drew/computers.html.  Look at the bottom
picture.

Drew Dunn
[log in to unmask]
Check out the BurbCam!
http://adsl24.bois.uswest.net/drew/hood.html

>
> I had problems with a Toshiba 6.7X drive that I attributed to
> heat. I added a
> fan card to my tower, and it brought the temperature down
> considerably, CD's
> didn't get nearly as hot.