Corsair Air 240 Hard Drive Temperatures

Hello, I bought an Air 240, and installed 3x3.5 hard drives into the back, but they are getting really warm; one drive is 50c while the other two 45c. Is there any way to improve airflow for the drives? I am in a cool room, and I installed a fan next to the power supply to blow out. They were in the 30's in my last case.

I never install 3 hhd in one cage, I always let one place open between the hdd, because if there isn't a good airflow, they will heat up each other. You could remove the middle hdd and place it some where else, for fixing this one you could use some Velcro. The air 240 isn't a case for putting in the max. hdd that it holds.

people are still using platter drives??

people are still using platter drives??

 

For storage yes.

I never install 3 hhd in one cage, I always let one place open between the hdd, because if there isn't a good airflow, they will heat up each other. You could remove the middle hdd and place it some where else, for fixing this one you could use some Velcro. The air 240 isn't a case for putting in the max. hdd that it holds.

 

It seems kind of silly to add 3 if it is not ideal.

Well Corsair gives you the option to do it, but it's a option, best way is 2 hhd with one empty bay open and place the third one some where else in the case , like on the bottom of the case, there is room enough in front of the psu, you could use the hdd plastic holder of the cage, put the hdd in it and fix the holder with hdd with some velcro on the bottom.

45 is about a normal acceptable temp for a large capacity platter drive thats been active for several hours and some drives do tend to run a little hotter.Ive had good luck with WD green drives producing lower heat.

45 is about a normal acceptable temp for a large capacity platter drive thats been active for several hours and some drives do tend to run a little hotter.Ive had good luck with WD green drives producing lower heat.

 

I am actually using greens in a software raid right now, and planning to switch to reds. I was going to get a WD EX4, but I prefer to run my PC 24/7 using PLEX to stream content. If push comes to shove I will get an external hard drive bay.

I don't have a case to test. Is it possible to get a slim profile fan in there anywhere?

I don't have a case to test. Is it possible to get a slim profile fan in there anywhere?

 

There isn't much room inside there for any fans due to the wiring getting in the way. I am may try rigging up a fan on the back to blow air in and through to see if there is much of a difference. I will also try to organize the cables better tomorrow to see if that help some too, but there is a serious lack of Air flow for hard drives. I have a black drive sitting in a dock outside the case at 37c while active too. This case is really awesome, but a few things severely need improvement to make it perfect. I have one fan blowing air out from the side panel too, but the wires are pretty much in the way of any air flow.

 

Keep in mind this case is sitting about 2 feet next to an Air Conditioner too.

Edited September 18, 2014 by JohnLucPicard

I am having the same issue with two drives fitted. I have a AF120 quiet in the side panel, but this is not helping at all. I am thinking of putting a quiet 60mm fan on the back door of the cage. It seems to be able to fit. Will investigate further. It can blow outwards at a very slow speed to keep the noise down, but at least move some air.

 

Another idea is to add a HDD cooler (those with two fans) between the two drives. by flipping one fan around you could get the cooler to cool both drives.

 

has anyone attempted any of these ideas?

Another user with exactly the same problem, It is not possible to install HDD into cage without them overheating as there is so little airflow, even installing fan in the side panel does not help much, as most of the air flow from the fan goes out the PSU intake grill and through the PSU its self.

 

You need to install an exhaust fan on the HDD cage door to pull air over the HDD to keep them cool, or risk frying them.

 

It is a fantastic case otherwise, but it looks like they neglected at engineering the airflow on the basement section. The top / motherboard section is great.

 

What would make it perfect is if they put in some hot swap HDD bays with dedicated cooling.

 

I really wish I had a good suggestion for you guys, but I'm not surprised this is happening. This was something I was concerned about when the Air 240 was in development. I'm going to pass this information back to our product manager and hopefully we can avoid these kinds of design decisions in the future.

I really wish I had a good suggestion for you guys, but I'm not surprised this is happening. This was something I was concerned about when the Air 240 was in development. I'm going to pass this information back to our product manager and hopefully we can avoid these kinds of design decisions in the future.

 

I really wish I came across this thread before I bought the case. I burned through two hard drives thinking that they were just old. I currently hold two drives only vs the three I used to have.

Same problem here. I end up to buy a multi bay drive enclosure just so I can put the HD's there :/

 

I agree with some comments here, Is better only be able to hold 2 HD's than saying 3 when we know is not realistic.

Come on guys.. I have the 240 as well and love it. Perfect for mini ITX board or mATX... Just because there may not be a fan mount located near the hard drive bays doesn't mean that you can't mount one anyways... So if you're really worried about the drive temps then mount a fan to the back of the drive cage..That way you can either blow the hot air out or pull cool air in. This case is a dream to work with and I think I saw someone mentioned not enough room in the back because of all the wiring... do some cable management and you'll have no issues.... think guys!!!

After install 1 fan on the side panel and another fan literally in the middle of the case (between the 2.5 cage and the 3.5 cage) suspended by plastic tie straps (not pretty I know), my case with 3x3.5HD's and 3x2.5 HD's drop the HD's temps from 50C to 35C. I didn't believe that will make so much a difference.

 

So the problem is solved. Disappointed that Corsair doesn't make the case ready for this kind of implementations and worst is that they release the Air 740 now with an exactly same problem....

I really wish I had a good suggestion for you guys, but I'm not surprised this is happening. This was something I was concerned about when the Air 240 was in development. I'm going to pass this information back to our product manager and hopefully we can avoid these kinds of design decisions in the future.

 

Yeah, I guess it's hard to imagine 3 x 3.5" HD's stored close to each other in a non ventilated metal cage might get very, very hot ... :thinking:

:flamethro

 

PS: this is the main reason I won't buy this otherwise nice, beautiful case

I'm considering the Air 240 for 24/7 HTPC use with an i7-8700 and Asus Z370-G mATX MB. No gaming use, so I believe that the on board graphics will be sufficient. And will use a Noctua NH-D9L or NH-U9S.

 

However, I would like to install (3) 3.5 10-12 TB HD's (plus a Samsung 960 Pro M.2 and perhaps a 2.5 1TB HD). So I found this thread on HD temps informative and am concerned with my proposed 3-drive, 3.5 configuration.

 

I wonder minus the heat generated by a graphics card(s) and overclocking, whether my build and HD temps will be temperate rather than what's been experienced by the posters in this thread?

 

I did find the following review which suggests that the temp. of their 3 WD 3.5 drives was in the 35C degree range.

 

https://www.hardocp.com/article/2015/02/23/corsair_carbide_series_air_240_compact_pc_case_review/6

 

I'm curious as to divergence of what this review experienced HD Temp wise, compared to what actual users are experiencing in this thread. Obviously unless I misinterpreted the review, the temps it references are what I would like to to see in my build and question why they were so much less than what is reported in this thread?

 

Any comments to the linked review's findings or musings about my specific build and what I may experience HD temp wise would be appreciated.

So I know this is an older thread now, but I'm running into the exact same problem with my air 240. I haven't taken exact measurements, but when trying to copy to my 3 3.5 drives they copy for 30 then slow down to less than 10 mb/s due to overheating.

 

I have found other people talking about the issue

 

http://www.overclock.net/forum/50-small-form-factor-systems/1528947-corsair-carbide-air-240-owner-s-club-369.html

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/2p02ak/build_help_hdd_cooling_issue_with_corsair_air_240/

 

But no solid solution to the problem. Is there anything that covers the fact that this case supports two less drives than advertised? (assuming you have to keep the middle drive open for 2.5 drives too)

I use mainly my Corsair Air 240 as a server case and I had problems with temperature as well. I had to close my server on hot days to avoid unexpected overheat problems with my HDDs. I finally found a solution that works very well. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Corsair-Carbide-Air-240-Hard-Disk-Bay-80x80-COOLING-FAN-ADAPTOR-Black-White/283518179154?hash=item4203001752:g:peIAAOSwuzldBgzA