At 17:57 5/5/99 , Changhsu P. Liu wrote: >The 10,000rpm IBM drive I bought recently is so hot that I cannot touch >it for more than 5 seconds. My 3.5" bay is kind of full with 3 drives... 10,000 RPM drives *require* cooling fans...the kind that are built into 3.5" to 5.25" drive brackets. IBM's web site states that a cooling device is required for your drive. "Running a drive out of the manufacturer's specified temperature range can lead to premature failure. The drive could fail in a month or two rather than delivering years of service. Further, higher temperatures result in the expansion and contraction of the disk's platters, requiring the drive to recalibrate often. Seek time can be adversly affected, slowing performance." (Quoted from Storagereview.com) There is a review of hard drive coolers at: <http://www.storagereview.com/articles/9809/980923coolers.html> This article includes pictures and will give you an idea what to look for. They all mount 2 or 3 fans on the face plate that is attached to a 3.5" to 5.25" drive bracket. They are meant to be installed in 5.25" external drive bays. I have used three of the devices mentioned in the Storagereview.com article and I agree 100% with their findings. Drive coolers range in price from $9 (US Dollars) to about $40 each. Check out <http://www.Onsale.com/category/Mass_Storage.htm> (near the bottom of the page) for an inexpensive cooler. (Rated "adequate" by Storagereview.com.) Much better coolers (but more expensive) are available from <http://www.calpc.com/html/accessories.html> or <http://www.pcpowercooling.com/bay-cool.html>. Storagereview.com rated the CalPC and PCP&C coolers to be the best. They ran more quietly, were easier to clean, come with a five year warranty, and kept test drives 6 degrees cooler than the cheaper model that Onsale.com has been selling (for Computer Geeks). Note: CalPC makes the cooler that PCP&C sells. (CalPC will sell to individuals if you call them or get their catalog.) Regards, Bill Do you want to signoff PCBUILD or just change to Digest mode - visit our web site: http://nospin.com/pc/pcbuild.html