Because every component in your computer is vital to its performance, the PC builder can often feel trapped looking for a place to cut corners. Lots of people opt for less-than-ideal power supply units, while others might not even buy a case. One thing many people don't even consider, though, is the hard drive. The hard drive has very obvious importance; it's where you keep everything. From my experience, though, almost nobody knows what they are buying beyond capacity and brand name.

It seems a lot to ask, then, to have people monitor the temperature at which their hard drive runs, or, even worse, to have them manage that temperature. What most people overlook is the fact that hard drives get hot. There are little motors running in there, usually at 7.2 thousand RPM, and they often get as hot as 50 degrees Celsius in everyday use.

For those of you who are concerned with the longevity of your data, though, there are plenty of low-quality, rackety hard drive coolers out there. I don't know about you, but I know I don't want any more noise coming out of my box. Ultra Products proposes to solve those problems of hard drive heat and noise with their aptly named Aluminum Hard Drive Cooler.


The cooler comes in a startlingly bright box, boasting a variety of features and sporting lots of pictures. Some notable aspects of the cooler are its four sintered powder heat pipes, vibration dampening screws, three year warranty, and fanless passive design. Yep, that's right: heat pipes, the kind you find on CPU coolers. Full specifications, from Ultra's website, are below:


So is this just a flashy new hunk of junk to throw in your case, or does it really do it's job? Continue on as we find out…