Question 1

is this fan designed to attach to the bottom of an individual 3 1/2 inch hard drive , (not something to cool the entire hard drive bay)???

Accepted Answer

It attaches directly to the HDD.  Mine has been running 18 hrs per day 7 days per week for over 18 months without failure.  In my experience with these hdd cooling fans, they significantly extend the life expectancy of the hdd.  Not one failure of an hdd over 10 yrs while using this type of fan.

Question 2

About how many watts does this thing use? thanks(:

Accepted Answer

It's unlikely that Xigmatek support could answer this question.  They have a very limited website also.  The short answer is almost none, but read on for a more precise explanation.  If you have bought one already, there might be a way to measure watts.  Some multimeters will measure amps, so you can use the conversion; amps x volts = watts.  If you are checking power usage, it may be easier to add up the amps used by the components connected to the same source of power.  Power supplies list a breakdown of the available power in amps.   Wattage is commonly used to compare heat and light output.  No offense, but neither is relevant to a fan unless the heat generated actually compromises the fans ability to reduce it.  The amount of heat reduction, on the other hand, is only quantifiable by the change in temperature of the device it is cooling once it is installed in the specific environment.  Even then, the load on that device must be exactly the same before and after.   However, a fan is a motor.  Motors require more power than most electrical devices, but in this case it is still near zero compared to the cpu, memory and hard drives of a PC.  This device provides a fantastic return on the energy invested,  but it usually occupies the space of an adjacent hard drive location.

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