hard drive temp?

Devil4915 · 06-14-2004, 01:39 AM

I have a Maxtor 80gb sata drive, is 38 degreees celcius ok?, btw i got a fan on it in the bay

ekÆsine · 06-14-2004, 01:57 AM

i do not know the safe EXACT temperatures of hard disks, but this is not rocket science. put your hand on top of the hard disk. if it is warm you are OK. if it is hot than it is overheating. if it is scalding hot than you have something that needs fixing right away. hard disk usually get too hot if something right above it is blocking the air to cool it off. you need to leave space for the hard disk to cool off below and above it. if nothing works, you can install a cheap hard disk cooler, these can be found on newegg.com. the speeze cooler and the vantec one are the best, they screw to the bottom of the hard disk

ekÆsine · 06-14-2004, 07:50 AM

I don't agree MB. I think its like a CPU. having no cooler is like just a passive heatsink, the heat will build up. for a hard disk its entire metal casing is the heatsink. adding a cooler to it dissipates the hot air and reduces the temperature externally which has an impact to its internal temperature. I think the internal temperature drop is not as significant as its external temperature drop because it is an enclosed case with no way for the air to escape.

ekÆsine · 06-14-2004, 10:31 PM

Oh i see what you are saying now MB. You may be right in that it doesn't extend the life of the HDD unless it helps bring down temps from an unsafe level. It would be interesting to know what the decrease in temp would do to the HDD RPM's and how that impacts overall HDD speed and response time, maybe no much of a difference either but who knows? I wonder also if cooling the hard disk impacts case temperature or CPU temperature......but I'm too lazy to try to figure that out

anyways the point i was trying to make with the hard disk cooler was to use it in extreme overheating of the hard disk especially if he has SATA which i hear heat up very nicely

06-14-2004, 01:39 AM	#1 (permalink)
Devil4915 Junior Techie Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 95	hard drive temp? I have a Maxtor 80gb sata drive, is 38 degreees celcius ok?, btw i got a fan on it in the bay __________________ AMD Athlon XP 2800+ Thermaltake Big Typhoon Epox EP-8RDA3+ rev. 1.1 Corsair XMS 2x512mb PC3200 C2PT ATI Radeon 9600 Pro 256mb Maxtor Diamond Max 9 80GB SATA HD Maxtor Diamond Max 10 80GB SATA HD Lite-on 16x DVD/48x CD-rom drive Lite-on 52x/32x/52x CD-RW Drive Creative SB Live! 5.1 Digital Antec SX1040BII Case 4x80mm case fans, 2 in, 2 out OS: Windows XP Pro v.SP2

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

06-14-2004, 01:57 AM	#2 (permalink)
ekÆsine Wizard Techie Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 3,940	i do not know the safe EXACT temperatures of hard disks, but this is not rocket science. put your hand on top of the hard disk. if it is warm you are OK. if it is hot than it is overheating. if it is scalding hot than you have something that needs fixing right away. hard disk usually get too hot if something right above it is blocking the air to cool it off. you need to leave space for the hard disk to cool off below and above it. if nothing works, you can install a cheap hard disk cooler, these can be found on newegg.com. the speeze cooler and the vantec one are the best, they screw to the bottom of the hard disk

06-14-2004, 07:50 AM	#3 (permalink)
ekÆsine Wizard Techie Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 3,940	I don't agree MB. I think its like a CPU. having no cooler is like just a passive heatsink, the heat will build up. for a hard disk its entire metal casing is the heatsink. adding a cooler to it dissipates the hot air and reduces the temperature externally which has an impact to its internal temperature. I think the internal temperature drop is not as significant as its external temperature drop because it is an enclosed case with no way for the air to escape.

06-14-2004, 10:31 PM	#4 (permalink)
ekÆsine Wizard Techie Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 3,940	Oh i see what you are saying now MB. You may be right in that it doesn't extend the life of the HDD unless it helps bring down temps from an unsafe level. It would be interesting to know what the decrease in temp would do to the HDD RPM's and how that impacts overall HDD speed and response time, maybe no much of a difference either but who knows? I wonder also if cooling the hard disk impacts case temperature or CPU temperature......but I'm too lazy to try to figure that out anyways the point i was trying to make with the hard disk cooler was to use it in extreme overheating of the hard disk especially if he has SATA which i hear heat up very nicely