HDD temperature

[Abraxas]

I just figured that my HDDs - IBM 40GB and Maxtor (written IBM here as well, sorry) 80GB 2mb - run at around 50°C each. I heard that the limit is around 45°C. I'm worried that it's a little bit too hot. Of course, it's summer right now, but I guess it's too hot anyway.

I have Athlon 1800+ running at 61°C right now. Couple days ago that reached 70. Well, this is not that bad I suppose.
I'm only afraid the HDDs might suffer condensation.
What's the min/max temperature they can stand?
Is it common to have a HDD cooler? Cause I don't have one.
Btw, just one simple case fan and a small case. CPU cooler with thermal grease.
Some suggestions would help as I have no idea. Perhaps the drives are always hot and I just didn't notice it before. Installed them in direct vicinity. I suppose one gets the heat from the other one as well.
Thanks in advance!

 

[Phantasm66]

I think your machine IS running a little hot.

Although I am not really sure that its about to explode in your face, or anything, I think that perhaps you should be investing in a better CPU cooler setup - because that's a lot hotter than my Ahtlon 2100+ XP which I guess runs about 40C or something. Maybe less sometimes. My cooler has a copper base. The default I tend to see in BIOSs these days for an auto-shutdown temperature is 70C or so, so its certainly not the best temp you have there, no.

As to the hard drives, my hard drives are very hot sometimes, especially in a machine packed with lots. You should try to think about at least cooling the hard drive that has your important data on it - but that's never any guarantee that a hard drive won't fail anyway.

I would recommend, if you really like adding to your machine and expanding it, and are concerned about heat and stuff, then think about moving all of your guts into a bigger case. Get a better PSU and more case fans and a nice better CPU fan and all should be sweet, I think.

 

[Abraxas]

Thx, I thought as much.
Some investment into more cooling wouldn't hurt, but the fans are already quite loud (Papst cooler and Enermax PSU, I'm no cooler expert or anything). Silent is expensive, isn't it?
The case is quite packed. I think the biggest problem is the room right now. Moist air and everything.

Usually the CPU temp is around 50°C.
Forgot to mention that system temp is a low 32°C.
Is my CPU cooler any worth or what?

 

[Rick]

The "limit" is well beyond 50* I imagine... Hard disks are designed for very high temperatures. When you think about it, it is amazing that mechanical devices with so much to do in such little time don't melt!

I strongly recommend an intake fan in the front of your case, hopefully positioned directly in front of your HDD bay. This will go a long way to cool down your HDD and keep it happy. Hot HDDs have much shorter lifespans than cool ones.

 

[enduser]

I suggest you get a new case. I bought one from newegg.com for $35 including shipping that has a side fan builtin. This would solve two problems. It would provide more space and cool off your components better. The one I bought is on this page: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...g=7&manufactory=1622&DEPA=1&sortby=14&order=1

My harddrive is around 30C and my XP2200 is around 45C tops on a warm day.

 

[young&wild]

Originally posted by enduser
I suggest you get a new case[/url]

My harddrive is around 30C and my XP2200 is around 45C tops on a warm day.

Getting a new case is a great idea especially a more spacious one. This way, there is more room to "breathe", smaller chance of overheating. Make sure the case fans on the side of the case are fixed in a way they are drawing out hot air if there's any.

 

[Abraxas]

When I lately paid attention to the bootup I noticed a warning telling me that primary IDE has no 80 conductor cable installed. Great, I connected both drives to primary. I had to do it cause the cables were of different length and my case is crowded. What I didn't know was that only one of them is U-DMA compatible. So now I have the hard drives running with an old IDE cable (I don't notice the reduction in speed, however) and the dvd and burner on the 80 conductor...argh.

Could this explain why the hard drives are heating up that much? The cable not transfering fast enough and causing overheat?
Anyway, I will replace the 40 conductor as soon as possible.

 

[Tarkus]

My "old" 120GXPs ran at 32C even when doing seektests for hours. These raptors are a bit warmer but I'm pretty sure they're running under 40C. Where are you getting your temperature readings?

 

[Abraxas]

I was getting them from Hardware Sensors Monitor, but the evaluation ceased today.
MBM5 didn't work for me at all. Just the displays but no values.