The results are pretty simple; without anything attached to the Seagate drive we recorded temperatures on the order of 39.3 degrees Celsius, and with the Zalman ZM-2CH1 installed the drives temperature dropped to about 37.0 degrees Celsius. The drive was mounted to the base of a case, and was tested for passive cooling alone.

I was considering adding in some results the Zalman ZM-2CH1 with a little added airflow care of a case mounted fan, but there are so many variables that the results wouldn't be worth much use. We tested a couple different configurations, and in each case the temperature of the drive naturally dropped, but how much you can expect temperatures to fall all depends on fan positioning, airflow, case pressure, and ambient temperatures. Suffice to say, with a fan blowing on the Zalman ZM-2CH1, the unit is able to cool a hard drive better than if the hard drive is left alone.

Zalman ZM-2CH1 HDD Cooler From All Angles
	The Fan: There are (10) 5mm diameter heatpipes on the Zalman ZM-2CH1, and each one is about 160mm long. The device works by using the exposed copper heatsinks as the cooling surface.
	Heatsink Top: Thanks to some pre-drilled holes, the Zalman ZM-2CH1 installs in just a few seconds. Notice how the copper heatpipes rise up over the top where the drive sits. Zalman include all the necessary hardware to mount the unit to a case, or 5.25" bay.
	Side A: The blue anodized aluminum side bars attach directly to the side of the hard drive where they absorb the heat which is then transferred to the copper heatpipes.
	Side B: The aluminum portion of the Zalman ZM-2CH1 is simply made up of two extruded aluminum sections mounted together. The heatpipes mounte into the space between them, and screws hold everything in place. To mount the Zalman ZM-2CH1 and hard drive to the base of a case, the little rubber vibration absorbing posts actually screw into the hard drive. Since the copper heatpipes are uncoated, they will eventually tarnish from the shinny copper colour shown here.

Ultimately, I think the Zalman ZM-2CH1 hard drive cooler is a bit of luxury; it does work to lower the overall temperature of a hard drive, but the hard drive really doesn't need to be cooled to that degree. At least not in a typical desktop computer.

If we look at a totally silent case where there are no cooling fans in the case, in the power supply, or elsewhere, I think the Zalman ZM-2CH1 would certainly have a more important role to play in maintaining acceptable hard drive temperatures. But again, it is not a really critical item to have.

That being said, where Zalman have really done the low noise cooling enthusiast a helping hand is by bundling in this heatpipe based hard drive cooling with vibration absorbing rubber mounting points. While the cooling factor is debatable for a standard case, the affect of neutralizing parasitic case vibrations caused by a noisy hard drive in a silent PC is quiet important.

By catering to that application, Zalman have given the Zalman ZM-2CH1 a few tangible qualities which I'm sure a silent PC enthusiast will appreciate. Bottom line though, unless you are really working to build a fully silent case, the Zalman ZM-2CH1 isn't going to be fully utilized.