Do my hard drives need cooling?

[Derek]

I have a homebuilt Biostar iDEQ 200N:

http://www.biostar.com.tw/products/barebone/ideq/200n/index.php3

It's a SFF PC that's low on space, so my two hard drives
are in very close quarters without a lot of airflow. I
have a 10,000 RPM 74GB WD Raptor (SATA) as my WinXP boot
disk and a 7,200 RPM 250GB WD (IDE) data drive.

Both drives get very hot to the touch and I'm wondering if
I should do anything to cool them down. I recently bolted
a Vantec HDC-502A to my Raptor, but reviews suggest these
coolers have relatively little impact, reducing the temp
by just a couple of degrees under heavy load:

http://www.extremeoverclocking.com/reviews/cooling/Vantec_HDC_1.html

So I guess I'm wondering if drive cooling is really that
important, or are modern drives designed to run pretty hot?
How worried should I be about having a 10k Raptor right
below my data drive? Any tips for cooling in tight spaces?

Incidentally, I've never had any temp-related problems
that I'm aware of, so this is really a preventive question;
I'd like to know if by letting my drives get hot I'm
setting myself up for problems later.

Thanks.

 

[Arno Wagner]

I have a homebuilt Biostar iDEQ 200N:

It's a SFF PC that's low on space, so my two hard drives
are in very close quarters without a lot of airflow. I
have a 10,000 RPM 74GB WD Raptor (SATA) as my WinXP boot
disk and a 7,200 RPM 250GB WD (IDE) data drive.

Both drives get very hot to the touch and I'm wondering if
I should do anything to cool them down. I recently bolted
a Vantec HDC-502A to my Raptor, but reviews suggest these
coolers have relatively little impact, reducing the temp
by just a couple of degrees under heavy load:

So I guess I'm wondering if drive cooling is really that
important, or are modern drives designed to run pretty hot?

The main HDD killer besides mechanical shock is heat.
That has not changed in recent times. Maxtor, e.g.
specifies a maximum of 55C and estimates that the failure
rate of the disks will only increase significantly from 60C
on. However you have to take into account that a disk may get
significantly hotter under heavy load that when idle. I have
seen as much as 20C increase. You also need to take
into account that room temperature might be higer in the
summer.

How worried should I be about having a 10k Raptor right
below my data drive? Any tips for cooling in tight spaces?

The only thing that really helps in my experience is airflow
and lots of it. If you mount the HDD(s) into a passive cooler
like the Zalman ZM-2HC1 or ZM-2HC2 you can do with less airflow,
but you still need some.

Incidentally, I've never had any temp-related problems
that I'm aware of, so this is really a preventive question;
I'd like to know if by letting my drives get hot I'm
setting myself up for problems later.

Life expectancy can be dramatically lower on drives operated too
hot. They can die from old age within weeks or months.

Arno

 

[Derek]

The main HDD killer besides mechanical shock is
heat. That has not changed in recent times. Maxtor,
e.g. specifies a maximum of 55C and estimates that
the failure rate of the disks will only increase
significantly from 60C on. However you have to take
into account that a disk may get significantly
hotter under heavy load that when idle. I have seen
as much as 20C increase. You also need to take into
account that room temperature might be higer in the
summer.

Is that 55C the temperature returned in the SMART
data? PC Wizard says under moderate load my Raptor is
at 47C and my 250GB is at 43C, which sounds reasonable,
*if* the SMART data can be believed.

 

[Arno Wagner]

Is that 55C the temperature returned in the SMART
data? PC Wizard says under moderate load my Raptor is
at 47C and my 250GB is at 43C, which sounds reasonable,
*if* the SMART data can be believed.

Yes, it is. You seem to be in spec, unless high load
increases the temperature by more than 5C or so.

Personally I would not feel comfortable with these temperatures,
but it may work out o.k.. You might want to measure again
after keeping both disks under high load for half an
hour or so.

Arno

 

[Droc]

got money, go water cooling.

myself, I tossed in 2 more case exhaust fans.

I got my hands on some blocks of copper and I cut grooves on them,
making thin fined heatsinks....lots cheaper then buying crap.

CPU fan, GPU fan, 4 exhaust fans, 1 slot exhaust fan,1 filtered intake
fan + thermaltake 480 silent power PSU(2 80mm fans) dropped my case
temp down to 6 degrees above room temp or less.
For lots of people, their HDDs are at the bottom of the PC and the
fans are at the top. Very little airflow and dust build-up at the
bottem is brutal on HDDS. A good case with more room and places for
lower sitting fans helps.

but the slot fans that sit in a PCI slot seem to make a huge temp
drop, and it should help cool your HDDS