How hot does your hard disk get?

[Just asking]

Aside from the obvious jokes that could arise with "hot" and "hard" in
the same sentence, this is a serious question.

I have two IDE disks in a PC, a 7200 RPM Seagate 'Cuda V 80GB and a
Western Digital 120GB 1200JB. The Seagate is the C drive with all the
programs and some data. It's the primary master. The primary slave WD
holds archival data. If I run the Seagate by itself, the metal housing
holding the disk feels downright cool to the touch even if used or
left on for days. When the WD is connected, the housing progressively
gets hotter.

After 2 hours of continuous operation from a cold start, the
laboratory grade thermometer read 41.5 C with the two disks running.
Remember, this is on the metal housing (looks like a cage) around the
disks, not the face of the WD disk itself (it's blocked by the cage).
I'd imagine some heat would have already dissipated by then so the
actual drive temperature is likely hotter. Furthermore, the WD disk is
not even being accessed! The heat from the Seagate would be negligable
and in fact, because it shares the housing with the WD, it aquires the
heat.

And I just got another WD1200JB, still unopened for now, to be used in
the same PC! Will replace the Seagate as the primary drive. If all
1200JB's are like that, I'm concerned they will mutually burn
themselves out.

Has anyone taken a temperature reading of their disk? I'm wondering
what is normal. From experience with many other disks, I would think
cool to warm is...which in my definition is not over 40+ C from a disk
not being accessed.

Any advice appreciated.

Richard

 

[Barry OGrady]

Aside from the obvious jokes that could arise with "hot" and "hard" in
the same sentence, this is a serious question.

I have two IDE disks in a PC, a 7200 RPM Seagate 'Cuda V 80GB and a
Western Digital 120GB 1200JB. The Seagate is the C drive with all the
programs and some data. It's the primary master. The primary slave WD
holds archival data. If I run the Seagate by itself, the metal housing
holding the disk feels downright cool to the touch even if used or
left on for days. When the WD is connected, the housing progressively
gets hotter.

After 2 hours of continuous operation from a cold start, the
laboratory grade thermometer read 41.5 C with the two disks running.
Remember, this is on the metal housing (looks like a cage) around the
disks, not the face of the WD disk itself (it's blocked by the cage).
I'd imagine some heat would have already dissipated by then so the
actual drive temperature is likely hotter. Furthermore, the WD disk is
not even being accessed! The heat from the Seagate would be negligable
and in fact, because it shares the housing with the WD, it aquires the
heat.

And I just got another WD1200JB, still unopened for now, to be used in
the same PC! Will replace the Seagate as the primary drive. If all
1200JB's are like that, I'm concerned they will mutually burn
themselves out.

Has anyone taken a temperature reading of their disk? I'm wondering
what is normal. From experience with many other disks, I would think
cool to warm is...which in my definition is not over 40+ C from a disk
not being accessed.

Any advice appreciated.

I recommend a hard drive cooling fan.

Richard

-Barry
========
Web page: http://members.optusnet.com.au/~barry.og
Atheist, radio scanner, LIPD information.
Voicemail/fax number +14136227640

 

[Barry OGrady]

How dare you ? Serious questions arent allowed around here.


Thats because the metal work and airflow is enough
to get rid of the heat a single drive produces fine at
the room temps you are using it at.


And thats because with the heat from two drives to get rid of,
it isnt anymore and you may well have pretty poor airflow now.

You'd likely find that you get the same effect in reverse too,
the WD by itself would be fine, and both drives wouldnt be.


You can see the drive temperature measured
properly with the internal SMART temperature
sensor on the Barra. The WD doesnt have one.



Yeah, most of the heat comes from the
rotation motor and the driving electronics.


Like I said, bet you'd get exactly the same result with
the WD there buy itself and the Seagate added later too.

Likely the problem is just poor airflow with two drives.


Not if you ensure decent airflow over the drives.

You've likely got them mounted adjacent when there are two.
You may well find that leaving a free drive slot between them
is all you need to stop them getting that hot. Thats not all that
easy with some cases tho that only have 3 3.5" positions in
the drive bay stack, 1 used for the floppy drive.

One relatively cheap fix is a better case

Or you can often arrange a case fan so you get airflow
over the drives. Not as quiet as a better case tho.


Yep, plenty do, particularly with the SMART temperature.


Thats quite an acceptible temp.

The room temp makes a big difference too. Plenty of
systems that are quite acceptible in winter can see the
drives get sinking hot on the hottest days in summer,
particularly if the room temp gets up in the 40s.

According to a website, the later WD1200 such as I have use two disks
where the older ones used three, supposedly allowing them to run cooler.

Even advice to shove your head up a dead bear's bum ?

Where does one find these bears?


-Barry
========
Web page: http://members.optusnet.com.au/~barry.og
Atheist, radio scanner, LIPD information.
Voicemail/fax number +14136227640

 

[Just asking]

Well, here's an update. I retook the thermometer reading. This time, I
wrapped the mercury reservoir in aluminum foil. The thermoter is one
of those cylindrical types suitable for measuring air or liquid
temperature, not a flat surface. In other words, the way I did it
before, the reading was an average of the drive surface and the air.
The crinkled alum. foil is not the most ideal heat conductor like say,
thermal grease, but better than nothing. A flat thermometer would be
great but I don't have such equipment.

With the aluminum foil on, it read 47 C, up from the 41.5 C under the
original test condition. Storage Review reported an operating
temperature of 44.5 C for a WD JB, I think it was 2000JB model (200
GB). The 47 C is still with the heat being dissipated by the metal
frame supporting the drive. So I suspect with drive could be producing
much more heat. The spec page at the WD site says operating
temperature up to 55 C. Mine is pretty damn close to that limit which
is disconcerting; I would think there a safer margin.

However close to the limit, the temperature is within spec so the best
thing to do is get a cooler as many of you have suggested. One
problem. I've got an odd drive support frame (housing). This is what
it looks like: http://members.rogers.com/rlee710/HDD/index.html My
PC is a Sony VAIO RZ22. The metal housing can slide out once you
release the lever. Note there is no space to mount one of those thin
cooling fan or heat sinks that go on top of either drive individually.
I've looked for commerically available coolers on the web but none
seem appropriate for this kind of housing. I'm thinking rigging some
sort of contraption like a passive heat sink I could machine out and
simply lay on top of the housing. Any other suggestions? Damn these
Sony PCs.

 

[Rod Speed]

Well, here's an update. I retook the thermometer reading. This time, I
wrapped the mercury reservoir in aluminum foil. The thermoter is one
of those cylindrical types suitable for measuring air or liquid
temperature, not a flat surface. In other words, the way I did it
before, the reading was an average of the drive surface and the air.
The crinkled alum. foil is not the most ideal heat conductor like say,
thermal grease, but better than nothing. A flat thermometer would be
great but I don't have such equipment.

With the aluminum foil on, it read 47 C, up from the 41.5 C under the
original test condition. Storage Review reported an operating
temperature of 44.5 C for a WD JB, I think it was 2000JB model (200
GB). The 47 C is still with the heat being dissipated by the metal
frame supporting the drive. So I suspect with drive could be producing
much more heat. The spec page at the WD site says operating
temperature up to 55 C. Mine is pretty damn close to that limit which
is disconcerting; I would think there a safer margin.

However close to the limit, the temperature is within spec so the best
thing to do is get a cooler as many of you have suggested. One
problem. I've got an odd drive support frame (housing). This is what
it looks like: http://members.rogers.com/rlee710/HDD/index.html My
PC is a Sony VAIO RZ22. The metal housing can slide out once you
release the lever. Note there is no space to mount one of those thin
cooling fan or heat sinks that go on top of either drive individually.
I've looked for commerically available coolers on the web but none
seem appropriate for this kind of housing. I'm thinking rigging some
sort of contraption like a passive heat sink I could machine out and
simply lay on top of the housing. Any other suggestions?

Just get a new case and move everything to it.

Damn these Sony PCs.

It'll curl up and die now, you'll be soorree... |-)

 

[larrymoencurly]

This time, I wrapped the mercury reservoir in aluminum foil.

With the aluminum foil on, it read 47 C, up from the 41.5 C under the
original test condition. Storage Review reported an operating
temperature of 44.5 C for a WD JB, I think it was 2000JB model (200
GB). The 47 C is still with the heat being dissipated by the metal
frame supporting the drive. So I suspect with drive could be producing
much more heat. The spec page at the WD site says operating
temperature up to 55 C. Mine is pretty damn close to that limit which
is disconcerting; I would think there a safer margin.

I measured WD 1200JB drives at 42C in 25C ambient air while the drives
were upside down and about 0.5" above a table. I measured both
because one had two platters and the other three. But this is 4C
cooler than an 80GB Seagate Barracuda under the same conditions. I
measured at the screw holes in the aluminum casting.

When I measured a Maxtor 6800 27GB 7200 RPM drive, I found that its
hottest chips reached 68C during continuous reads when the drive was
horizontal and several inches above the table, but those chips cooled
down to 53W when the drive was held vertically.