SSD - Upper or lower bay?

[eyepea]

I have a 2011 MM with an SSD in the lower bay (the bay you see when you open the base) and a Scorpio blue 1tb (traditional drive) in the upper bay. I am going to rebuild a new i7 mm 2.6ghz and put the 'old' drives from the 2011 in the new MM and are contemplating which bays I will put the drives into.

Two schools of thought:

1 - put the Scorpio blue in the lower bay so it gets most of the fan as the inlet for the fan is right at the edge of the black base. This would keep the traditional hd cool and hence keep the whole unit cooler.

2 - put the ssd in the lower bay to get the fan because it is more expensive and will likely age quicker. This is my traditional setup. My ssd is my OS drive.

My main reason for thinking of options is I was wondering if the Scorpio blue tucked away tightly in the upper bay is running the mm hotter because it gets the least ventilation. I am assuming traditional hd's run hotter than an SSD, hence isn't it best to put the scorpio blue in a bay that get the most air?

Thoughts?

IP

 

[Macman45]

Heat rises, so logically it's going to get a little hotter if you put it in the top bay, but I wouldn't be that concerned...If the heat sensor does it's job the fans will take care of that heat anyway...I'd put it where the least disruption to other components can occur during installation....The less you have to dismantle, the better.

 

[G-Mo]

Apple's technician handbook says you should put the SSD in the upper bay and the HDD in the lower bay. I have always done this, predominantly because it's more likely the HDD is going to fail and it's quicker to access.

 

[eyepea]

Apple's technician handbook says you should put the SSD in the upper bay and the HDD in the lower bay. I have always done this, predominantly because it's more likely the HDD is going to fail and it's quicker to access.

Interesting argument. I didn't see it that way.

If you note Apple's patented fan system on the Mac you might see more why I am asking this.

http://www.patentlyapple.com/patent...mini-from-design-to-removable-hard-drive.html

See fig 7. Note No. 148 are the two HD's. The lower bay get the nice clean cool air flowing over it.

I think the drive in the lower bay will get the best cooling.