How hot can an IDE hard drive get without damage?

[Joe]

I left my computer while it was decompressing a large set of RAR
files (about 1.5 gig). When I returned the SMART alarm had a series
of message that my hard drive was hot. It was showing the hard drive
was at 107 degrees fahrenheit. I stopped the decompressing the RAR
set and backed up the drive. Now I am concerned that I may have
damaged the drive. It is a Western Digital 80G 7200 RPM ATA/100 IDE
Hard Drive.

 

[Kevin Buffardi]

I left my computer while it was decompressing a large set of RAR
files (about 1.5 gig). When I returned the SMART alarm had a series
of message that my hard drive was hot. It was showing the hard drive
was at 107 degrees fahrenheit. I stopped the decompressing the RAR
set and backed up the drive. Now I am concerned that I may have
damaged the drive. It is a Western Digital 80G 7200 RPM ATA/100 IDE
Hard Drive.

If this is the disk in concern:
http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=83

then it says the operating temperature is from 41-131 F. 107 degrees
isn't that overwhelmingly hot. How long had you been gone from the
computer? Was 107 degrees the *current* temperature, or the temperature
at time of the warning messages?

It wouldn't hurt for you to run some diagnostics on the drive, but if it
never reached above 107, it *should* be fine.

//Kevin

 

[Kevin Buffardi]

If this is the disk in concern:

http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=83

Oops, wrong link. That's for SATA drive. Here's EIDE:
http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=32

Same results, though, 131 F.

//Kevin

 

[JC]

If this is the disk in concern:
http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=83

then it says the operating temperature is from 41-131 F. 107 degrees
isn't that overwhelmingly hot. How long had you been gone from the
computer? Was 107 degrees the *current* temperature, or the temperature
at time of the warning messages?

It wouldn't hurt for you to run some diagnostics on the drive, but if it
never reached above 107, it *should* be fine.

//Kevin

Thanks for the response Kevin.
I think the drive I have is the 2mb cache rather than the eight but
with your direction I found the data for it. It also has a maximum
temp range of 131 degrees.

I am not certain how hot the drive got. I was gone for about 1-1/2
hours. When I came back there was a whole bunch of warning messages
stacked up on my screen (The speakers were turned off so I got no
audible warning.) I stopped the processes that were running and let
the drive cool down then rebooted the computer.

It appears I have the warning temperature on the SMART software set to
warn when the temp gets above 41 celsius. That works out to just
under 106 fahrenheit. That may be a bit low.