I have recently decided on upgrading my old hard-drive to an 80GB Barracuda ATA IV. The reviews I read said it ran slightly hot, and to consider extra cooling for it. Now I was wondering if anyone has experience with hard-drive coolers, and if so would it be worth getting one.I wish I lived in Antarctica,Adam

Adam,I have half a dozen old SCSI drives that run really hot. A couple of these puppies would cook your eggs in the morning. I got cooling kits for each of them and was very pleasantly surprised at the difference they make. These drives that before were scorching hot are now nothing more than noticeably warm. The kits I use are of the type which mount in a 5.25" drive bay. 3 fans blow air back into the bay. They come with rails to mount the HD in said 5.25" bay. You can also get a cooling unit which attaches directly to the HD. Haven't tried one of those, so can't comment on how they work.I would suggest you go ahead and get a cooling unit. It certainly won't hurt. Even if you don't really need it to keep the drive operational, you will be improving airflow through the case as a whole. This is never a bad thing!Doug

Thanks, I was looking around on the internet some more and I found a 5.25" drive bay mounted cooler caled the HC-7 HD Cooler. The reviewer tested it on a Quantum Fireball Plus HD and a Western Digital -40BB (Both 7200RPM drives) and the cooler lowered their temperature by 9 degrees fahrenheit. That sounded very good to me and with the added bonous on more ventilation for my case it's a win win situation.Thanks Again,Adam