[lug] combatting hard drive heat

[D. Stimits]

I've been spending a lot of time reworking an ancient machine that has 
old scsi-uw drives on it, working on a lot of multibooting. All of the 
drives are tiny in comparison to modern standards, the largest being 9 
GB. All drives were manufactured when 7200 rpm was the high speed, 10000 
rpm didn't even exist. I have 3 of these stacked in a single bay that 
holds 4 half-height units, the top unit is a floppy. The 3 scsi drives 
alone are making the metal cage so hot it can barely be touched (doesn't 
burn me, but it sure gets uncomfortable after even 2 seconds). The main 
problem is that the drives are touching each other without room for air 
flow, but even if there were room, there isn't any real vent source.

What I'm wondering is if anyone knows of some extremely thin heat sinks, 
perhaps 2"x2" or 4"x4", that might fit on the side of this cage, between 
the cage and case wall? Or an extremely thin fan version of this same 
thing that fits between the cage and case wall? It makes me really 
nervous to have hot drives, and I've never lost a drive that was kept 
well-cooled (at least among scsi, even drives close to 10 years old). 
Are there any innovative suggestions here on cooling this 4 unit 
half-height steel bay cage?

D. Stimits, stimits AT attbi DOT com