Hot drive

[JimR]

My system is a Dell PowerEdge 400SC running as a desktop, dual boot
Mandriva 2008.1 and Win XP Pro. I have 2 drives installed, a WDC
WD400BB and a Seagate ST3400633AS.

Yesterday, I installed lm-sensors and KSensors, and I saw that while the
WD drive was loping along at 37 degrees C, the Seagate was at 43. I
just turned the machine on half an hour ago, and the Seagate is already
up to 41 and climbing.

Searching on the web, I can't find a clear definition of whether 43 C is
considered in the normal operating range or not. The Seagate Product
Manual indicates that "actual drive case temperature should not exceed
69 degrees C". If that is correct, then 43 is obviously nothing to
worry about. KSensors configuration defaults suggest anything above 40
should be cause for concern.

Does anybody have some good info on this for me?

Thanks in advance,
JimR

 

[Arno Wagner]

My system is a Dell PowerEdge 400SC running as a desktop, dual boot
Mandriva 2008.1 and Win XP Pro. I have 2 drives installed, a WDC
WD400BB and a Seagate ST3400633AS.

Yesterday, I installed lm-sensors and KSensors, and I saw that while the
WD drive was loping along at 37 degrees C, the Seagate was at 43. I
just turned the machine on half an hour ago, and the Seagate is already
up to 41 and climbing.

Searching on the web, I can't find a clear definition of whether 43 C is
considered in the normal operating range or not. The Seagate Product
Manual indicates that "actual drive case temperature should not exceed
69 degrees C". If that is correct, then 43 is obviously nothing to
worry about. KSensors configuration defaults suggest anything above 40
should be cause for concern.

Does anybody have some good info on this for me?

There is no "good info". However drive temperatures just below 50C
are quite standard in non-climatized environments. There was even
one study by Google people that seemd to indicate drives at
around 45C live longer than at around 25C. However I strongly
sustpect that is due to a methodological error where they measured
drive temperature for drives that had already failed or were
failing for quite some time before detecting them as failed.
Failing drives can get either far hotter (additional retries)
or cooler (already marked as faild by the OS and spun-down)
than drives that are fine.

Arno

 

[Ed Light]

You can get the specs for the drives from their web sites. All the
drives I've had were rated for up to 55C. But, as you know, whatever
you're running can get hotter with the weather unless you're in a
temperature controlled room, so you want it low enough not to exceed specs.

Lots of people shy away from getting near 50 and aim for the 30's, low
40's tops when heavily loaded up with activity.

How well the case ventilates the drives is a big factor -- a whole study
in itself. It makes a big difference.

Finally some hard drives use more power than others and thus get hotter.

--
Ed Light

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[Arno Wagner]

You can get the specs for the drives from their web sites. All the
drives I've had were rated for up to 55C. But, as you know, whatever
you're running can get hotter with the weather unless you're in a
temperature controlled room, so you want it low enough not to exceed specs.

Indeed. That is one of the reasons to put critical systems in an
air-conditioned server room, as this eleminates the variability
in air temperature.

Lots of people shy away from getting near 50 and aim for the 30's, low
40's tops when heavily loaded up with activity.

How well the case ventilates the drives is a big factor -- a whole study
in itself. It makes a big difference.

Finally some hard drives use more power than others and thus get hotter.

Very true. I have one server in an unclimatized closet. I had to put
in notebook drives and a low-poer mainboard/CPU to keep the temeratures
acceptable.

Arno

 

[Ed Light]

Very true. I have one server in an unclimatized closet. I had to put
in notebook drives and a low-poer mainboard/CPU to keep the temeratures
acceptable.

Possibly the new model of the WD Green Power 1 gig would do ok.
WD10EADS, not the CS. As measured by Tom's Hardware, it idles at 2.8 watts!

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/hdd-terabyte-1tb,2077-13.html

But I read in the Silent PC Review forums about the old model that it
unloads its heads after only a few seconds of inactivity, and that the
poster was worried that it would wear itself out that way.

--
Ed Light

Better World News TV Channel:
http://realnews.com

Bring the Troops Home:
http://bringthemhomenow.org
http://antiwar.com

Iraq Veterans Against the War:
http://ivaw.org
http://couragetoresist.org

Send spam to the FTC at
(e-mail address removed)
Thanks, robots.

 

[JimR]

My system is a Dell PowerEdge 400SC running as a desktop, dual boot
Mandriva 2008.1 and Win XP Pro. I have 2 drives installed, a WDC
WD400BB and a Seagate ST3400633AS.

Yesterday, I installed lm-sensors and KSensors, and I saw that while the
WD drive was loping along at 37 degrees C, the Seagate was at 43. I
just turned the machine on half an hour ago, and the Seagate is already
up to 41 and climbing.

Searching on the web, I can't find a clear definition of whether 43 C is
considered in the normal operating range or not. The Seagate Product
Manual indicates that "actual drive case temperature should not exceed
69 degrees C". If that is correct, then 43 is obviously nothing to
worry about. KSensors configuration defaults suggest anything above 40
should be cause for concern.

Does anybody have some good info on this for me?

Thanks in advance,
JimR

I believe I have fixed it. It went up to 44 C, and I was getting a bit
concerned. I make regular backups, but losing a hard drive is such a PITA.

Anyway, I opened the computer case, and found that I had never
permanently mounted the Seagate drive -- it was laying in a spare bay
below the floppy.

I found I had another bay occupied by an unused 20 GB IDE drive (wasn't
even power-connected). I removed that one, and moved the hot drive onto
a permanent mounting there. For the last hour, it has been staying at
38 degrees C or better. Interestingly, the WD that was previously
holding at 37 has now gone up to 39, but that is acceptable.

Now I just have to worry what permanent damage I did by running this
drive too hot for a year and a half :-(

Thanks to all who replied,

JimR

 

[Ed Light]

Interestingly, the WD that was previously
holding at 37 has now gone up to 39, but that is acceptable.

Airflow changed by rearranging things, probably.

Now I just have to worry what permanent damage I did by running this
drive too hot for a year and a half :-(

Try running the Seagate diagnostic, Seatools:

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools

--
Ed Light

Better World News TV Channel:
http://realnews.com

Bring the Troops Home:
http://bringthemhomenow.org
http://antiwar.com

Iraq Veterans Against the War:
http://ivaw.org
http://couragetoresist.org

Send spam to the FTC at
(e-mail address removed)
Thanks, robots.

 

[JimR]

Airflow changed by rearranging things, probably.


Try running the Seagate diagnostic, Seatools:

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools

Thanks, Ed. I see that they only provide these tools for Microsoft
products. Maybe I can make an exception and boot into Windows to try this.

JimR

 

[Ed Light]

Thanks, Ed. I see that they only provide these tools for Microsoft
products. Maybe I can make an exception and boot into Windows to try this.

Sea Tools for DOS is there. Must be a floppy, or CD iso.

--
Ed Light

Better World News TV Channel:
http://realnews.com

Bring the Troops Home:
http://bringthemhomenow.org
http://antiwar.com

Iraq Veterans Against the War:
http://ivaw.org
http://couragetoresist.org

Send spam to the FTC at
(e-mail address removed)
Thanks, robots.