Hello, I bought an IBM deskstar 61.4 GB harddisk. In the metal plate on the upsite of the disk, there is a little hole, and the sticker around it reads "Do not Cover this Hole" The thing is, that I only have 3 3.5 inch drive bays, which are all used now (2harddisks and the floppydrive). So, when all the drives are installed, the hole is covered by the floppydrive, the other harddisk or by the metal plate between the 3.5 inch and the 5.1/4 inch drivebays. Should I worry about it? What is that hole actually? Johan

reduce heat

As you may or may not know,metal expands and contracts as it heats and cools.The hole is to allow air to escape as the dirve heats up and the platters expand then returns as it cools down.IDE Hard drive platters spin at 5400 to 7200 RPM.Any small change in air pressure could do alot of damadge to the berings over time.It should be alright for your flopy drive to be real close as long as it isnt sealing the hold up.If this is a problem think about turning the drive up side down of side ways.

My PC only has 2 3.5 bays and my floppy is right above my IBM 80gig Deskstar. The 3.5" drive is close but there is an air gap there. This drive has run fine since I installed it nearly a year ago. As Wolfe says, all should be OK as long as you aren't cutting off the air supply completely. You may have to jiggle stuff about a little to find out which position offers maximum 'gap' for the drive if you know what I mean. Lack of bay space about to be rectified with the delivery of a Lian-Li :-) nice

thanks