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installing the CoolDrive 3, I wanted to check out a few of the features.
Cooler Master lists the following features on their website:
Features:
• Stylish front plate design with 2 blue LEDs.
• Aluminum heatsink for superior cooling.
• Reduce hard drive surface temperature.
• Reduce hard drive noise.
• Suitable for any standard brand name hard drive.
• Supports both IDE & & SCSI.
• Fits any 5 ¼ drive bay.
• Removable front panel & filter for easy cleaning.
The CoolDrive 3 is an attractive unit. The top of
the unit has CoolDrive 3 written across it. The CoolDrive 3’s
casing is aluminum with edges that are similar to the grooves of
a heatsink. Most users will install the CoolDrive 3 and never see
the top of the unit again. I think it would look really great to
have a PC case with a window mod where the CoolDrive 3 would be
visible in the top bay.
Cooler Master states that the CoolDrive 3 has a stylish front plate
design with 2 blue LEDs. The front plate of the CoolDrive 3 is definitely
attractive and stylish. It has that sleek “Cooler Master”
appearance. The CoolDrive is aluminum and would fit very well with
any standard silver or aluminum case. Unfortunately, Cooler Master
does not offer any other colors at this time; this may be a disappointment
for people that don’t have a silver or aluminum case. The
front plate sports the CoolDrive 3 logo (which reminds me of the
Dale Earnhardt #3 car EVERY time I look at it).
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Cooler Master advertises that the CoolDrive 3 has a removable front
panel and filter for easy cleaning. ‘Easy’ was the word
that caught my eye. I was ready to see this, since there is usually
nothing easy about ripping your PC apart to clean out a fan filter.
Following the instructions for removal of the front panel, with a
firm tug the entire front panel popped off the CoolDrive 3.
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Inside the front panel is a small mesh filter. The little fan filter
pops out easily by lifting a small tab on the side. All it takes to
clean the filter is wiping it with a moist cloth…it can’t
get much easier than that!!!
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With the front plate off, I took a look at the LEDs. There are 2 small
LEDs to the right and left sides of the fan. These LEDs would be simple
to mod, if you didn’t want the standard blue ones.
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Snapping the filter back in and replacing the front plate was just
as easy as the removal. Cooler Master gets a ton of credit for actually
making cleaning easy!!
When I flipped the CoolDrive 3 over, the first thing
I noticed was a thick white sticker in the center of the unit. Cooler
Master doesn’t explain what this is, but on inspection it
is clearly an anti-vibration pad for your hard drive to rest against.
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At the
front of the unit sits a 40mm Cooler Master Rifle fan. The LED/Fan
molex pass-through runs up the side of the unit, keeping the wires
neatly out of the way.
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Ready for the installation? I decided to use a Western Digital 120gig
7200 8mg cache hard drive. With the hard drive upside down on a flat
surface, I lined up the screw holes with the CoolDrive 3 hard drive
dock. Following the included instructions, I attached the hard drive
to the hard drive dock with 4 screws. All the holes lined up perfectly
and the dock was attached within seconds. This is how the hard drive
will look with the dock in place; you can see that the dock is slightly
larger then the hard drive.
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After attaching the hard drive, you turn the CoolDrive 3 heatsink
upside down and insert the hard drive. Attach the hard drive dock
to the CoolDrive 3 with 4 black screws, and the unit is complete.
It was an extremely easy install, with no problems.
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Installing the CoolDrive 3 into the case was just as easy. Plug the
molex pass-through into the hard drive, and slide the unit in through
the front of the 5 ¼ bay.
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Using the remaining four black screws, attach the CoolDrive 3 into
the bay. Plug a power molex into the molex pass-though, hook up the
IDE cable, and it’s complete!!
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The CoolDrive 3 is silent when running and the LEDs look great. The
LEDs are not as diffused across the front panel as I expected, but
they are still pretty bright.
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