External case - 3.5 or 5.25 case....

[kenmo]

Looking to purchase an external usb case to house an hard drive that will be left on whenever the computer is powered on...

Which would be the better case? One of those 3.5 inch metal cases with no fan or one of the 5.25 inch cases with a fan?

The problem I've had with the 5.25 inch cases is the fan either becomes very noisy over time or fails completely....

Happy New Year everyone & thanks...

[redwudz]

If the drive is left on for extended use, I would probably go with a case with a fan. You can always replace the fan with a higher quality one. If you use SATA HDDs, they usually run cooler, but a fan is still a good idea. One company that has a fair selection of cases: http://www.cooldrives.com/

[kenmo]

Thanks.... I have a few 5.25 cases and over time (6 months or so) the fans get really noisy.... Any suggestion for good replacement fans? The fans appear to be the size of an old socket 7 fan....

[redwudz]

Most really cheap fans are sleeve bearing type. Ball bearing fans are more dependable, but even they fail when the lubrication fails. Look for 'Brand Name' fans with single or dual ball bearings. Unfortunately, with very small fans, not a lot of choices. If you can find cases that use the more common 80mm fans, much better selection. Scythe, Antec, Thermaltake, Enermax, Coolermaster, Arctic Cooling, are some of the better brands, IMO.

In general, I look for ball bearing fans and stay away from the cheapest ones and the most expensive ones. NewEgg has a fair selection. Just measure the outside dimension of your existing fans and find a similar one. Pay attention to the bearing type, the noise level, the CFM output, and the cable connection type.

I recently used a 40mm Antec fan to aid in motherboard cooling: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835129036 But it only has a four pin Molex power cable and it's a bit thick, so takes up more space. But it is quiet for it's size and moves a fair amount of air.