Hot Ass Hard Drive? When is hot too hot?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bob Brown
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Bob Brown

Using one of those cute monitor programs I noticed my hard drive is
going up to 50C, idles around 44C.

Is this hot as hell like I think it is?

Is there a way to stop, limit, prevent my hard drive from getting so
GD Hot?

Also, why are drive made this way?

My TV and MONITOR don't overheat and neither has a fan in it so their
must be some reason the HD people want our hard drives to get hot as
hell?

I'm wondering about heat spreader type things and such.


p.s. I wish it was legal to payback companies that make these products
dependent on other sources of cooling. I'd start with some Goodfellas
methods if possible. Maybe some Casino "cornfield scene" next.

Please help, try to ignore my anger.
 
Bob Brown said:
Using one of those cute monitor programs I noticed
my hard drive is going up to 50C, idles around 44C.
Click to expand...
Is this hot as hell like I think it is?
Click to expand...

Not quite that bad, but higher than I prefer to run drives.

And presumably you are in winter there, what matters
is what it gets to on the hottest days in summer.
Is there a way to stop, limit, prevent my hard drive from getting so GD Hot?
Click to expand...

Increase the air flow over that drive. That means that its
undesirable to mount the drive next to another hard drive,
its best to leave one free slot between drives if you can.
Also, why are drive made this way?
Click to expand...

Lousy design if its a Maxtor.
My TV and MONITOR don't overheat and neither has a fan in it so their must
be some reason the HD people want our hard drives to get hot as hell?
Click to expand...

Its harder to design them to run cool without decent airflow.
I'm wondering about heat spreader type things and such.
Click to expand...

You dont normally need to increase the airflow
much to get a significant reduction in drive temp.
p.s. I wish it was legal to payback companies that make these products
dependent on other sources of cooling. I'd start with some Goodfellas
methods if possible. Maybe some Casino "cornfield scene" next.
Click to expand...
Please help, try to ignore my anger.
Click to expand...

Its just a pathetic little drug crazed fantasy.
 
Your HD is MADE to get hot, any more than your CPU or video cards are. You
should really go after Intel for the P4 processors... :) They don't work
well without "other sources of cooling" either. That's just the way they
work. You've got to ventilate your system properly, or it won't matter what
brand of HD you put in there.

For that matter, your TV won't work well in an unventilated box either. A
certain percentage of all the power that's consumed by all these devices is
wasted in heat; that's just the way it is.

So yes, your HD is running hot. Get some ventilation in there, suck some of
the hot air out, blow some cool air in over the drive... There's no cause
to get your knickers in a twist, though.

Clint

PS: If you can find an old 3600rpm drive, it will probably run cooler...

Clint
 
Sorry, that should be "Your HD is NOT made to get hot...

Clint said:
Your HD is MADE to get hot, any more than your CPU or video cards are.
You should really go after Intel for the P4 processors... :) They don't
work well without "other sources of cooling" either. That's just the way
they work. You've got to ventilate your system properly, or it won't
matter what brand of HD you put in there.
Click to expand...
<snip>
 
Using one of those cute monitor programs I noticed my hard drive is
going up to 50C, idles around 44C.

Is this hot as hell like I think it is?
Click to expand...

Your strange perversion with the body cavities of computer
hardware is noted, though I insist there are better things
to get excited about.

On a more serious note, No, it's not hot, and there is
nothing in your computer of interest that can't run at up to
50C.


Is there a way to stop, limit, prevent my hard drive from getting so
GD Hot?
Click to expand...


Software reads a temp taken at one point on a drive, it does
not tell you how how the rest of the drive is, particularly
the parts that fail. IF the rest of the drive is too hot
(which is unlikely since 50C isn't very high), you'd improve
airflow around the drive. Since we have no idea what the
system is like, there's no way to make any specific
recommendation.


Also, why are drive made this way?

My TV and MONITOR don't overheat and neither has a fan in it so their
must be some reason the HD people want our hard drives to get hot as
hell?
Click to expand...


This is a case where having information can be a problem if
someone isn't capable of properly interpreting it. Odds are
quite high your TV and monitor both have parts that reach
44-50C, but by not knowing it, you think it's ok... and it
probably is, as mentioned above 50C isn't very hot.


I'm wondering about heat spreader type things and such.
Click to expand...

If you just want to do it as an experiment, if it's of
interest as a hobby then play around with these things to
see if it makes a difference, but being practical you don't
need any of this. Drives are designed such that having
sufficient airflow past them, they will be cool enough
without adding any further 'sinking. This is true unless
you had a very hostile ambient temp, in which case it is as
likely the entire system is overheating, not just the
drive(s).


p.s. I wish it was legal to payback companies that make these products
dependent on other sources of cooling. I'd start with some Goodfellas
methods if possible. Maybe some Casino "cornfield scene" next.
Click to expand...

IF you had a legitimate concern, the easiest way to send a
message as a consumer is to not buy the product anymore.
However, since there is no mention of the drive
malfunctioning, you'd be better off doing some investigative
research about acceptible drive temps before drawing such a
conclusion.
 
Bob Brown said:
Using one of those cute monitor programs I noticed my hard drive is
going up to 50C, idles around 44C.

Is this hot as hell like I think it is?
Click to expand...

Maybe not quite as hot as hell, but close enough. Take it from
someone who qualifies hard drives for a living: temps over 40C
reduces the lifespan of virtually all drives. In our test labs, any
HD regardless of mfr/model/interface/size/etc that exceeds this
threshold is rejected.
Is there a way to stop, limit, prevent my hard drive from getting so
GD Hot?
Click to expand...

Yes. Put a fan directly on it, add another intake fan to your
case, and/or relocate it to another part of your case that
receives more airflow. Your goal (assuming you don't have
crazy high ambient room temps) should be 35C max under
max load, ideally 30C or less (although for home use this
usually requires a lot of direct airflow over the drive).
 
Not quite that bad, but higher than I prefer to run drives.

And presumably you are in winter there, what matters
is what it gets to on the hottest days in summer.


Increase the air flow over that drive. That means that its
undesirable to mount the drive next to another hard drive,
its best to leave one free slot between drives if you can.


Lousy design if its a Maxtor.


Its harder to design them to run cool without decent airflow.


You dont normally need to increase the airflow
much to get a significant reduction in drive temp.



Its just a pathetic little drug crazed fantasy.
Click to expand...

Or too much movie watcing! LOL
Anyway, thanks for your advice sir.
 
Here is the SYSTEM, sorry for not mentioning before.

Windows XP Home Edition [SP2] 5.1.2600
Motherboard Asus A8S-X
ID 63-0501-000001-00101111-082605-SiS756$A0217001_
BIOS DATE: 08/26/05 10:36:58 VER: 08.00.10
MB Chipset SiS 756, AMD Hammer
===
CPU Type AMD Athlon 64 3500+
CPU Venice S939
CPU Stepping DH-E6
===
Monitor: Proview 998/998A/998N(1239224727)
===
Video Card NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GS(256 MB)
GPU Code Name NV41GS (x16 10DE/00C0 Rev A2)
===
RAM 1024 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM)
Corsair VS1GB400C3 1 GB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (@ 200MHz)
HARD DRIVE Maxtor 6L080P0
DVD DRIVE: NEC DVD_RW ND-3550A

Does this help?
 
Yes. Put a fan directly on it, add another intake fan to your
case, and/or relocate it to another part of your case that
receives more airflow. Your goal (assuming you don't have
crazy high ambient room temps) should be 35C max under
max load, ideally 30C or less (although for home use this
usually requires a lot of direct airflow over the drive).
Click to expand...

30-35C? But it doesn't idle for hours at less than 40-42C right now..?

Here is system specs if it helps you to help me any.

Windows XP Home Edition [SP2] 5.1.2600
Motherboard Asus A8S-X
ID 63-0501-000001-00101111-082605-SiS756$A0217001_
BIOS DATE: 08/26/05 10:36:58 VER: 08.00.10
MB Chipset SiS 756, AMD Hammer
===
CPU Type AMD Athlon 64 3500+
CPU Venice S939
CPU Stepping DH-E6
===
Monitor: Proview 998/998A/998N(1239224727)
===
Video Card NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GS(256 MB)
GPU Code Name NV41GS (x16 10DE/00C0 Rev A2)
===
RAM 1024 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM)
Corsair VS1GB400C3 1 GB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (@ 200MHz)
HARD DRIVE Maxtor 6L080P0
DVD DRIVE: NEC DVD_RW ND-3550A

I was wondering why I have SO MANY heat problems that 99.99% other
people never have. It's 40F outside and this drive is running kinda
hot. It's perplexing me. Help if you can sir.
 
Bob Brown said:
Yes. Put a fan directly on it, add another intake fan to your
case, and/or relocate it to another part of your case that
receives more airflow. Your goal (assuming you don't have
crazy high ambient room temps) should be 35C max under
max load, ideally 30C or less (although for home use this
usually requires a lot of direct airflow over the drive).
Click to expand...

30-35C? But it doesn't idle for hours at less than 40-42C right now..?

Here is system specs if it helps you to help me any.

Windows XP Home Edition [SP2] 5.1.2600
Motherboard Asus A8S-X
ID 63-0501-000001-00101111-082605-SiS756$A0217001_
BIOS DATE: 08/26/05 10:36:58 VER: 08.00.10
MB Chipset SiS 756, AMD Hammer
===
CPU Type AMD Athlon 64 3500+
CPU Venice S939
CPU Stepping DH-E6
===
Monitor: Proview 998/998A/998N(1239224727)
===
Video Card NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GS(256 MB)
GPU Code Name NV41GS (x16 10DE/00C0 Rev A2)
===
RAM 1024 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM)
Corsair VS1GB400C3 1 GB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (@ 200MHz)
HARD DRIVE Maxtor 6L080P0
DVD DRIVE: NEC DVD_RW ND-3550A

I was wondering why I have SO MANY heat problems that 99.99% other
people never have. It's 40F outside and this drive is running kinda
hot. It's perplexing me. Help if you can sir.
Click to expand...

You specified everything except what matters :)

What case do you have, and what fans are installed in it?
 
Bob Brown said:
Yes. Put a fan directly on it, add another intake fan to your
case, and/or relocate it to another part of your case that
receives more airflow. Your goal (assuming you don't have
crazy high ambient room temps) should be 35C max under
max load, ideally 30C or less (although for home use this
usually requires a lot of direct airflow over the drive).
Click to expand...

30-35C? But it doesn't idle for hours at less than 40-42C right
now..?

Here is system specs if it helps you to help me any.

Windows XP Home Edition [SP2] 5.1.2600
Motherboard Asus A8S-X
ID 63-0501-000001-00101111-082605-SiS756$A0217001_
BIOS DATE: 08/26/05 10:36:58 VER: 08.00.10
MB Chipset SiS 756, AMD Hammer
===
CPU Type AMD Athlon 64 3500+
CPU Venice S939
CPU Stepping DH-E6
===
Monitor: Proview 998/998A/998N(1239224727)
===
Video Card NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GS(256 MB)
GPU Code Name NV41GS (x16 10DE/00C0 Rev A2)
===
RAM 1024 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM)
Corsair VS1GB400C3 1 GB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (@ 200MHz)
HARD DRIVE Maxtor 6L080P0
DVD DRIVE: NEC DVD_RW ND-3550A

I was wondering why I have SO MANY heat problems that 99.99% other
people never have. It's 40F outside and this drive is running kinda
hot. It's perplexing me. Help if you can sir.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
You specified everything except what matters :)
Click to expand...

No he didnt, he listed the maxtor drive involved.
 
<snip> I noticed my hard drive is going up to 50C, idles around 44C.
Click to expand...

HARD DRIVE Maxtor 6L080P0
Click to expand...

The maximum operating temperature for the Maxtor DiamondMax 10
series is 60°C/140°F.

On Sat said:
<snip> temps over 40C reduces the lifespan of virtually all
drives.
Click to expand...

Phew... My current hard drive temperature is 28°C/82°F. Check
out this "Hard Drive Temperatures: Be Afraid" article
<http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000748.html>.

-- Walter Shreeve
 
Bob Brown said:
Yes. Put a fan directly on it, add another intake fan to your
case, and/or relocate it to another part of your case that
receives more airflow. Your goal (assuming you don't have
crazy high ambient room temps) should be 35C max under
max load, ideally 30C or less (although for home use this
usually requires a lot of direct airflow over the drive).
Click to expand...

30-35C? But it doesn't idle for hours at less than 40-42C right now..?

Here is system specs if it helps you to help me any.

Windows XP Home Edition [SP2] 5.1.2600
Motherboard Asus A8S-X
ID 63-0501-000001-00101111-082605-SiS756$A0217001_
BIOS DATE: 08/26/05 10:36:58 VER: 08.00.10
MB Chipset SiS 756, AMD Hammer
===
CPU Type AMD Athlon 64 3500+
CPU Venice S939
CPU Stepping DH-E6
===
Monitor: Proview 998/998A/998N(1239224727)
===
Video Card NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GS(256 MB)
GPU Code Name NV41GS (x16 10DE/00C0 Rev A2)
===
RAM 1024 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM)
Corsair VS1GB400C3 1 GB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (@ 200MHz)
HARD DRIVE Maxtor 6L080P0
DVD DRIVE: NEC DVD_RW ND-3550A

I was wondering why I have SO MANY heat problems that 99.99% other
people never have. It's 40F outside and this drive is running kinda
hot. It's perplexing me. Help if you can sir.
Click to expand...

You specified everything except what matters :)

What case do you have, and what fans are installed in it?
Click to expand...

case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811154013

APEX TU150 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ATX 12V 400W with
20+4 pin Intel/AMD listed Power Supply
 
Using one of those cute monitor programs I noticed my hard drive is
going up to 50C, idles around 44C.

Is this hot as hell like I think it is?

Is there a way to stop, limit, prevent my hard drive from getting so
GD Hot?

Also, why are drive made this way?

My TV and MONITOR don't overheat and neither has a fan in it so their
must be some reason the HD people want our hard drives to get hot as
hell?

I'm wondering about heat spreader type things and such.

p.s. I wish it was legal to payback companies that make these products
dependent on other sources of cooling. I'd start with some Goodfellas
methods if possible. Maybe some Casino "cornfield scene" next.

Please help, try to ignore my anger.
Click to expand...
------------------------------------
Note that your TV (and probably CRT monitor) do produce a significant
amount more heat than your hard drive possibly can produce, but notice
that on the back of your TV there is substantial amount of ventilation
slots and the TV is a lot bigger than a hard drive surface area so the
heat per CM sq is a lot less. If you opened a CRT TV you would find
substantial heatsinking (that runs quite hot) on the power supply
transistor, horizontal output Transistor and the vertical output
amplifier stage too. The neck of the picture tube runs so hot you
would burn your finger on it if you touched the glass for any length
of time. (DONT try any of this at home !!)

Out of interest though, many recent Pentium processors dissipate
nearly the same amount of watt energy in heat, as an entire 20" TV
would draw from the mains :)
-------------------------------------------------------
back to the hard drive,
3 things to think about,

Make sure your power supply is of sufficient wattage. I have had a
situation where 2 hard drives were being run in the same machine, one
got very hot other was normal. Spoke to dealer, he said to upgrade
power supply to a larger wattage. (in this case, upgraded to a 450 W
RMS) It worked and the hot drive ran cooler. (I can only assume that
the supply was getting overloaded and the voltage was dropping and was
somehow resulting in overheating of the drive)

(If your power supply has really thin leads, and you are using the
furtherest plug from the power supply to power the hard drive - this
can also cause a voltage drop, possibly resulting in the same
symptoms ?)


Mount a heatsink on your hard drive, if there is space. In a
commercial application in a hot environment I have used a finned
heatsink of a similar base size to the base of the hard drive and with
7 x 1" fins on it. (it was taken from a junked 60w audio amp) screw
it firmly to the drive, making sure it doesn't short circuit on
anything in the process, and use heatsink compound on touching
surfaces.

If you don't need fast drive speed, or 100's of GB of space, and don't
mind the higher price consider a laptop drive. (you will need an
adaptor if you want to run it on a home PC IDE, or you can buy one of
the newer SATA types) These generate hardly any heat, even when they
are enclosed without good ventilation and running constantly, and I
have found that they are much more reliable and tolerant to vibration
etc. They will happily run for most of the day in commercial use and
still last some years before failing !
 
Here is the SYSTEM, sorry for not mentioning before.

Windows XP Home Edition [SP2] 5.1.2600
Motherboard Asus A8S-X
ID 63-0501-000001-00101111-082605-SiS756$A0217001_
BIOS DATE: 08/26/05 10:36:58 VER: 08.00.10
MB Chipset SiS 756, AMD Hammer
===
CPU Type AMD Athlon 64 3500+
CPU Venice S939
CPU Stepping DH-E6
===
Monitor: Proview 998/998A/998N(1239224727)
===
Video Card NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GS(256 MB)
GPU Code Name NV41GS (x16 10DE/00C0 Rev A2)
===
RAM 1024 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM)
Corsair VS1GB400C3 1 GB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (@ 200MHz)
HARD DRIVE Maxtor 6L080P0
DVD DRIVE: NEC DVD_RW ND-3550A

Does this help?
Click to expand...


It does give us a rough idea of the heat production but in
the case of hard drive cooling the most relevant variable is
the case itself, as the typical drive rack is upstream of
those parts, such that ambient conditions and case intake
area and flow dictate drive cooling.
 
Maybe not quite as hot as hell, but close enough. Take it from
someone who qualifies hard drives for a living: temps over 40C
reduces the lifespan of virtually all drives. In our test labs, any
HD regardless of mfr/model/interface/size/etc that exceeds this
threshold is rejected.


Yes. Put a fan directly on it, add another intake fan to your
case, and/or relocate it to another part of your case that
receives more airflow. Your goal (assuming you don't have
crazy high ambient room temps) should be 35C max under
max load, ideally 30C or less (although for home use this
usually requires a lot of direct airflow over the drive).
Click to expand...

It is arbitrary and unrealistic to have a goal of 35C max as
a drive reported temp, and practically no drive in any
reasonable chassis would ever be under 30C.

There is a relevant benchmark about drive surface temp here,
http://www23.tomshardware.com/storage.html?modelx=33&model1=117&model2=676&chart=39
 
kony said:
It is arbitrary and unrealistic to have a goal of 35C max as
a drive reported temp, and practically no drive in any
reasonable chassis would ever be under 30C.
Click to expand...

Hogwash. 35C is neither arbitrary nor unrealistic for
adequately cooled hard drives. As for 30C I said it
requires a lot of airflow, although currently I have three
Seagate X15's running in a midtower case with just the
stock front fan, and none of them ever get over 30C.
 
KR said:
------------------------------------
Note that your TV (and probably CRT monitor) do produce a significant
amount more heat than your hard drive possibly can produce, but notice
that on the back of your TV there is substantial amount of ventilation
slots and the TV is a lot bigger than a hard drive surface area so the
heat per CM sq is a lot less. If you opened a CRT TV you would find
substantial heatsinking (that runs quite hot) on the power supply
transistor, horizontal output Transistor and the vertical output
amplifier stage too. The neck of the picture tube runs so hot you
would burn your finger on it if you touched the glass for any length
of time. (DONT try any of this at home !!)

Out of interest though, many recent Pentium processors dissipate
nearly the same amount of watt energy in heat, as an entire 20" TV
would draw from the mains :)
-------------------------------------------------------
back to the hard drive,
3 things to think about,

Make sure your power supply is of sufficient wattage. I have had a
situation where 2 hard drives were being run in the same machine, one
got very hot other was normal. Spoke to dealer, he said to upgrade
power supply to a larger wattage. (in this case, upgraded to a 450 W
RMS) It worked and the hot drive ran cooler. (I can only assume that
the supply was getting overloaded and the voltage was dropping and was
somehow resulting in overheating of the drive)
Click to expand...

Its much more likely that the case had inadequate airflow thru it
and that the bigger power supply moves more air thru it because
it has better fans in it.

The drive that got a lot hotter than the other is normally due
to the fact that one of the drives is jammed right up against
the other and that one drive has better airflow over the
surface that it gets rid of most of its heat via.
(If your power supply has really thin leads, and you are using the
furtherest plug from the power supply to power the hard drive - this
can also cause a voltage drop, possibly resulting in the same symptoms ?)
Click to expand...

Nope, less current should see the drive run cooler,
essentially because the lower the watts dissipated
in the drive will always see a lower temp.
Mount a heatsink on your hard drive, if there is space.
Click to expand...

Makes more sense to leave a free drive bay slot around the drive.
Not always possible, but it is in his case with just one drive.

His main problem is that its a Maxtor and they do run hot as
measured by the drive SMART temp which is what he is reading.
In a commercial application in a hot environment I have used a finned
heatsink of a similar base size to the base of the hard drive and with
7 x 1" fins on it. (it was taken from a junked 60w audio amp) screw
it firmly to the drive, making sure it doesn't short circuit on anything
in the process, and use heatsink compound on touching surfaces.
Click to expand...
If you don't need fast drive speed, or 100's of GB of space, and don't
mind the higher price consider a laptop drive. (you will need an
adaptor if you want to run it on a home PC IDE, or you can buy one of
the newer SATA types) These generate hardly any heat, even when they
are enclosed without good ventilation and running constantly, and I
have found that they are much more reliable and tolerant to vibration
etc. They will happily run for most of the day in commercial use and
still last some years before failing !
Click to expand...

Or just bin the Maxtor and use a cooler running Samsung.
 
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