HDD too hot & causing reboots - Is mine going bad???

[FKS]

I have 3 Seagate 160GB SATA hdd's; 2 in my main PC & 1 in my 2nd PC. Both
PCs are in the same room.

According to SMART, the temperature of 2 in my main PC never exceeds 44C,
but the temp of the one in my 2nd PC easily reaches more than 55C when
idling. My 2nd PC recently has started to reboot when I click "turn off" in
XP SP2. I'm pretty sure that the hot hdd is causing the problem because (1)
none of other components in my 2nd PC are hot at all, and (2) the rebooting
problem happens only when the hdd temp rises above 55C or so.

However, according to SMART, the hdd is healthy and performs well. So what
gives?

 

[Rod Speed]

I have 3 Seagate 160GB SATA hdd's; 2 in my main PC & 1 in my 2nd PC. Both PCs are in the same
room.

According to SMART, the temperature of 2 in my main PC never exceeds
44C, but the temp of the one in my 2nd PC easily reaches more than
55C when idling. My 2nd PC recently has started to reboot when I click "turn off" in XP SP2. I'm
pretty sure that the hot hdd is causing the problem

No it isnt.

because (1) none of other components in my 2nd PC are hot at all,

Thats likely just because the other temperatures are being measured properly.

and (2) the rebooting problem happens only when the hdd temp rises above 55C or so.

Likely the other temperatures that arent being measured properly are too hot too.

However, according to SMART, the hdd is healthy and performs well. So what gives?

You arent measuring the temperatures properly and that system is getting too hot.

 

[Brody]

I have 3 Seagate 160GB SATA hdd's; 2 in my main PC & 1 in my 2nd PC. Both
PCs are in the same room.

According to SMART, the temperature of 2 in my main PC never exceeds 44C,
but the temp of the one in my 2nd PC easily reaches more than 55C when
idling. My 2nd PC recently has started to reboot when I click "turn off" in
XP SP2. I'm pretty sure that the hot hdd is causing the problem because (1)
none of other components in my 2nd PC are hot at all, and (2) the rebooting
problem happens only when the hdd temp rises above 55C or so.

However, according to SMART, the hdd is healthy and performs well. So what
gives?

make sure ALL the fans are working including the one on the CPU

make sure vent holes in and out are cleare of dust

 

[JimK]

make sure ALL the fans are working including the one on the CPU

make sure vent holes in and out are cleare of dust

You may also be able to add an additional fan or so. I had a machine
with four drives on a raid card plus a couple of CD/DVD drives and
occasionally had similar problems until I mounted two extra fans to
increase airflow. If your chassis has the mount points, the fans
themselves and a couple of power splitters are cheaps

 

[Arno Wagner]

I have 3 Seagate 160GB SATA hdd's; 2 in my main PC & 1 in my 2nd PC. Both
PCs are in the same room.

According to SMART, the temperature of 2 in my main PC never exceeds 44C,
but the temp of the one in my 2nd PC easily reaches more than 55C when
idling. My 2nd PC recently has started to reboot when I click "turn off" in
XP SP2. I'm pretty sure that the hot hdd is causing the problem because (1)
none of other components in my 2nd PC are hot at all, and (2) the rebooting
problem happens only when the hdd temp rises above 55C or so.

However, according to SMART, the hdd is healthy and performs well.

Hehe. Running it at 55C when idle, means it exceeds the maximum
when active. What this disk will do is live short. For catastrophic
failure, it needs to get a bit hotter.

So what gives?

Your cooling sucks. Running a HDD over 45C or so (under load) is asking
for trouble, i.e. asking to loose your data.

Arno