My hard drives are hot?

Starion · 14 Mar 2006, 09:24 AM

Does anyone have experience with temperatures for hard disk drives?

My new computer has two hard drives:
A 100 GB Seagate that spins at 7200 RPM. This drive has an SATA interface.

I also have a 60 GB Maxtor drive that spins at 5200 RPM. This drive has the old ATA interface. Both drives seem to be OK. I haven't seen any bad sectors.

I have recieved some notices about the raw read write S.M.A.R.T value changing. The values are well above the T.E.C. threshold though.

Under heavy load, my SATA drive reaches 51 degrees C and my older Maxtor drive reaches 47 degrees C. Are these high temperatures normal? I don't know much about SATA drives. I'm a little worried about the high temperatures. Seagate says that the ambient operating temperature of 60 degrees.

The only fans I have are in the power supply unit and on the CPU's heatsink.

Here are the current temperatures in Celcius that SpeedFan reports:

CPU: 42
Ambient: 42
Remote: 57
SATA drive: 48
ATA drive: 46
Temp1: 40

My room's temperature is 25.5 degrees Celsius or 78 degrees Fahrenheit.

I think the remote temperature is on the motherboard somewhere or maybe in the power supply.

I'm thinking of buying a case fan and mounting it on the back. In the mean time, I'll keep watching the temperatures.

Edit: I forgot something: My case is a tower case that is 15 inches tall.

Any advice or opinions will be greatly appreciated!

theog · 14 Mar 2006, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Starion

The only fans I have are in the power supply unit and on the CPU's heatsink.

I'm thinking of buying a case fan and mounting it on the back. In the mean time, I'll keep watching the temperatures.

You seem to have provided a problem, then provided an answer....

Starion · 14 Mar 2006, 12:29 PM

I didn't realize that. Thanks for pointing my answer out.

I just don't want the inside of hte hard drives to melt.

Both hard drives are not 49 degrees C. In the summer the drives will be hotter.

Bye

theog · 14 Mar 2006, 09:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Starion
I didn't realize that. Thanks for pointing my answer out.

I just don't want the inside of hte hard drives to melt.

Both hard drives are not 49 degrees C. In the summer the drives will be hotter.

Bye

Your hard drive will not melt... your data might become corrupt or you may start to see issues with windows (system unstable), but the drives will not melt.

In the summer, turn on the air... if you don't have some type of air/fans, no amount of fans will help.

Actually, you should put a couple of fans in your box. I don't because of the noise, but then I used to leave the sides off as well, and run the a/c.

Starion · 15 Mar 2006, 08:38 AM

Thanks for the reply.

I found my problem. The source is so obvious.

My room needs ventilation: my room is hot because the air conditioner isn't on. If the temperature of the room is 26 degrees C, then the hard disks will be 48 degrees C.

Thanks theog!

Bye

Starion · 16 Mar 2006, 03:16 AM

I found another source to the problem: the fan in my power supply is weak. As a result, the hot air stays inside my case.

When I put my hand over the power supply's fan, I can't feel any air coming out of the power supply. The power supply can put out 265 watts. I should replace the power supply soon.

Thanks for reading my thread everyone.

kander · 22 Mar 2006, 02:30 PM

I've had the same issue you're experiencing, Starion. Here are some things that helped in my case (forgive the pun):

1. Better PSU fan. I upgraded the entire PSU as you're planning to do simply because the adding of more fans might have been a bit too much on my 250W. I've opted for a double-fan powe supply, one fan to suck in air from the computer and another to blow it out at the back. This seems to work very well.

2. An additional fan at the front. Behind my harddrive rack was space for a large fan. This one sucks in cool air, which works well combined with the stronger PSU fan. It creates a nice airflow of cool air from the bottom to the top where it is blown out.

3. HD-coolers. Special fan casements that allow you to place a thin fan on the harddrive. I've got these hooked to a fan controller at the front of my rig, as these two tend to be quite noisy (lots of airflow through a rather confined space). This definitely helped a lot, but the trade-off is with the noise. Basically these run at ultra-low speeds normally, and only during the summer do I increase them slightly to compensate for higher ambient temperatures. Normally these come with 4-pin connectors that go between your HD and the PSU-connector, requiring convertors for hooking them up to the controller.

Results: A drop from 53 C to 32 C.

Starion · 23 Mar 2006, 12:13 PM

Thanks for the advice Kander. wow, you have some nice cooling devices in your PC's case.

The fan now blowing air out. The air is slightly warm. The air coming from other computers are hotter than the air coming out of my computer. I think I have a weak fan.

The temperatues of my hard disk drives are 45 and 42 degrees C. 45 degrees is much better than 50 degrees.

I don't have space to install fans in the front of my case. There is now mounting bracket at the bottom.

I'll definately need a new power supply if I want to add a fancy graphics card.

14 Mar 2006, 09:24 AM	#1
Starion Essential Contributor Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Washington D.C. Posts: 240	My hard drives are hot? Does anyone have experience with temperatures for hard disk drives? My new computer has two hard drives: A 100 GB Seagate that spins at 7200 RPM. This drive has an SATA interface. I also have a 60 GB Maxtor drive that spins at 5200 RPM. This drive has the old ATA interface. Both drives seem to be OK. I haven't seen any bad sectors. I have recieved some notices about the raw read write S.M.A.R.T value changing. The values are well above the T.E.C. threshold though. Under heavy load, my SATA drive reaches 51 degrees C and my older Maxtor drive reaches 47 degrees C. Are these high temperatures normal? I don't know much about SATA drives. I'm a little worried about the high temperatures. Seagate says that the ambient operating temperature of 60 degrees. The only fans I have are in the power supply unit and on the CPU's heatsink. Here are the current temperatures in Celcius that SpeedFan reports: CPU: 42 Ambient: 42 Remote: 57 SATA drive: 48 ATA drive: 46 Temp1: 40 My room's temperature is 25.5 degrees Celsius or 78 degrees Fahrenheit. I think the remote temperature is on the motherboard somewhere or maybe in the power supply. I'm thinking of buying a case fan and mounting it on the back. In the mean time, I'll keep watching the temperatures. Edit: I forgot something: My case is a tower case that is 15 inches tall. Any advice or opinions will be greatly appreciated! Last edited by Starion : 14 Mar 2006 at 09:37 AM.

14 Mar 2006, 12:29 PM	#3
Starion Essential Contributor Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Washington D.C. Posts: 240	I didn't realize that. Thanks for pointing my answer out. I just don't want the inside of hte hard drives to melt. Both hard drives are not 49 degrees C. In the summer the drives will be hotter. Bye

15 Mar 2006, 08:38 AM	#5
Starion Essential Contributor Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Washington D.C. Posts: 240	Thanks for the reply. I found my problem. The source is so obvious. My room needs ventilation: my room is hot because the air conditioner isn't on. If the temperature of the room is 26 degrees C, then the hard disks will be 48 degrees C. Thanks theog! Bye

16 Mar 2006, 03:16 AM	#6
Starion Essential Contributor Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Washington D.C. Posts: 240	I found another source to the problem: the fan in my power supply is weak. As a result, the hot air stays inside my case. When I put my hand over the power supply's fan, I can't feel any air coming out of the power supply. The power supply can put out 265 watts. I should replace the power supply soon. Thanks for reading my thread everyone.

22 Mar 2006, 02:30 PM	#7
kander The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 4,112	I've had the same issue you're experiencing, Starion. Here are some things that helped in my case (forgive the pun): 1. Better PSU fan. I upgraded the entire PSU as you're planning to do simply because the adding of more fans might have been a bit too much on my 250W. I've opted for a double-fan powe supply, one fan to suck in air from the computer and another to blow it out at the back. This seems to work very well. 2. An additional fan at the front. Behind my harddrive rack was space for a large fan. This one sucks in cool air, which works well combined with the stronger PSU fan. It creates a nice airflow of cool air from the bottom to the top where it is blown out. 3. HD-coolers. Special fan casements that allow you to place a thin fan on the harddrive. I've got these hooked to a fan controller at the front of my rig, as these two tend to be quite noisy (lots of airflow through a rather confined space). This definitely helped a lot, but the trade-off is with the noise. Basically these run at ultra-low speeds normally, and only during the summer do I increase them slightly to compensate for higher ambient temperatures. Normally these come with 4-pin connectors that go between your HD and the PSU-connector, requiring convertors for hooking them up to the controller. Results: A drop from 53 C to 32 C.

23 Mar 2006, 12:13 PM	#8
Starion Essential Contributor Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Washington D.C. Posts: 240	Thanks for the advice Kander. wow, you have some nice cooling devices in your PC's case. The fan now blowing air out. The air is slightly warm. The air coming from other computers are hotter than the air coming out of my computer. I think I have a weak fan. The temperatues of my hard disk drives are 45 and 42 degrees C. 45 degrees is much better than 50 degrees. I don't have space to install fans in the front of my case. There is now mounting bracket at the bottom. I'll definately need a new power supply if I want to add a fancy graphics card.