HD's running hot?

Recently I had to move to a new place, and due to extreme space conflicts, my comp must now reside in a not-very-well-ventilated corner.  I usually keep my system running 24/7, and a few days in, it began running erratically, restarting itself.  Upon opening the case, I found the hard drives to be searing hot to the touch.  Now, I'm not the most experienced here, but I've had to open my case up for various reasons over time, and can never remember the HD's being this hot.  I immediately shut down, unplugged, and moved the comp out to a better ventilated spot to cool down.  Unfortunately, it needs to go back to that stuffy corner if I want to be using it again due to my apartment's setup.  Is the ventilation the problem?  How can I alleviate the problem if so--do I need more fans perhaps (let us assume that the comp NEEDS to be in that corner and skip the "try moving it" suggestions)?  I'm sure flaming is inevitable, but I'm not all that experienced yet.  I do know that I've been running this system in exactly this configuration for at least a year now with few problems, so I'm guessing it's the airflow in that corner?

Modern hard drives must be directly cooled by flowing air from a fan. This isn't listed as an operating requirement, but I've found that when drives are not cooled their lives are significantly shortened.

There are computers (dell, etc) that seem to get away without this but they actually design their cases with carefully controled thermal and air flow zones.

Your 25 dollar chinese made computer case, however, is not that well designed. Just make sure your case can mount a fan that will directly cool the hard drives. Just a little air flow will do the trick.