Sorry about the cross-posting.

Bought this hd case (3.5") and am trying it out with my WD 160gb IDE
drive. I normally have the drive in an ADS 5.25" dual link drive kit,
which works great, but it was very bulky...looking for something a bit
more portable.

The ADS case has a fan to keep the drive cool, so I've never really
worried about the temp of the drive as it runs for hours and hours.
However, this new case (says Mobile Disk on the top) does not have a
fan, and after about 30 minutes of being turned on, with not much disk
access at all, the bottom of the case is a bit warm.

I use this drive for backups as well as digital video work, so I'd
prefer to have a case with firewire. USB2 is nice to have also, for its
ubiquity. This is what led me to this dual interface case as opposed to
the USB2-only ADS 3.5" case. However, I'm still torn over dual-link-
and-no-fan versus single-link-and-fan.

I understand that heat kills electronics, and cool air keeps things
running smoothly, but how does that idea relate to all these external
drives from major vendors (Maxtor, WD) which do not have fans? This
MobileDisk case is made of aluminum, which should help dissipate the
heat, but I've also read that if the drive is resting on plastic inside
the case, and not touching the aluminum (with this case the drive rests
on plastic with gaps so the aluminum is showing) then the dissipation
will not happen...true?

Last questions...Any suggestions about brands of external 3.5"
cases...fans or no fans...how does this CompUSA brand case stack
up...any good review sites for external cases (not including any
drives)?

Thanks!
Gary