that the most important thing is to have some gentle airflow. The direction and volume are less important.
The secondary bay in the MythTV box here is like that.. the two drives lay horizontally above the slim fan. Not optimal for cooling, but good enough, and quieter perhaps than a side fan in this instance.
There's a 4TB Seagate in that bay by itself now, and it is idling at 33C (current ambient is around 22C). I'm quite happy with that!
Yes, I too think a fan at the bottom would probably be enough. Certainly for the bottom HDD, most likely for the one on top as well. But, since none of the two locations are designed to have a fan in there, and putting it on one side is easier in my case, I think I'll go with that. Creating a hole in the side panel is going to be much easier because I can actually remove the side panel. Doing anything at the bottom panel of the case means basically taking the server apart.
Actually, I've been carefully looking at the case, and I am hoping I can do without the side hole. There could be room enough to create air circulation. I'll only find out in few days when I get the correct size fan.
(Still 29 C / 30 C - That seems to be the normal temperature now for the drives. Nice nice nice!)
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