i have to IDE harddisks, one above the other. i opened my case the other day and they were rather hot. is this normal? can it damage the hdd or reduce its life span? I agree Computing.net does need an edit button.

Usually they should be warm to the touch, but not so hot they burn you or it is uncomfortable to hold you hand on them. If a drive gets to hot it can reduce the lifespan of the drive. __________________Firefox Myths__________________ http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/FirefoxMyths.html

True to point .heat can reduce the lifespan or in the worst case damage you harddisk and there is a manufacturer approved recommended max operating temp (mostly between 45C-55c) depending on the make. It is recommended that you leave a space for air convection between two hard disks and not stack them directly ontop each other . Most new case structures allow for the placement of an intake fan blowing a cool gush of air unto your disks, check if your case has that provision otherwise it is not hard to improvise one if you are creative. There are also other more expensive harddisk cooling options like water cooling appendages and sometimes little funny looking devices but in my experience, you should be sure of the precise heating status of your disks and not just use your hand to feel, be sure you have a problem and what extent it is first. Try a program like speedfan, it liso gives the hard disk temp. http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=337 Custom Built 2.8Prescott @ 3.6Ghz, 32/64bit,HyperThreading. WaterCooled. Asus P5ND2-SLI nVIDIA 6600TD 2G DualChannel PC4300 Win XP Pro

Rather hot is a but subjective. How hot? Hard disk can go up to 50C without any damage. At this temperature it will feel hot to the touch. 35-40C is normal. Excessive temperature will lead to data errors and reduce the life of the disk. Try rearranging the disk so there is a space between them. Download Speed Fan which will tell you exactly how hot the drives are. Stuart

Also make sure the "SMART" system is turned on through the bios..This will monitor your HD in the background and warn you when the conditions of the hardware exceed the safe specifications. VeL