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?

>>6
I live in Hawaii, and it's none too cool nowadays.  This problem is compounded by living in an extremely ill-ventilated place.  Air conditioning isn't in the cards financially right now, nor is a window nearby.

>>7
Well, shit.  I guess  better jump on the backing up.  What worries me is that I think my master is the one that's heating up, but due to the close proximity of my backup drives, those appear to be getting pretty hot as well.  Or I could be wrong, and all three could be burning up :(  Sooo...I'm hoping this doesn't lead to all three failing or anything.

How hot are hard drives supposed to get, anyway?  I mean, I remember them being pretty fucking warm in the past, but never actually so hot you couldn't touch them...