Hard disk cooling

[CakeMonster]

Does anyone know if there is any point in cooling hard disks? I remember reading about a study a few years ago that counter-intuitively suggested that cooling fans did not help, but I'm not sure if there has been a follow up or if that was even reliable.

I have an old Cooler Master tower with modules that have fans installed and I've kept running those fans just out of habit. They didn't use to make any audible noise but now I notice that they actually have started to. The fans might just be old and worn at this point, but I'm considering turning them off. According to CrystalDiskInfo my disks are running at temperatures from 26-29C which from my memory is pretty cool compared to temperatures of temporary disks I've attached for various purposes that have not had fans aimed at them.

Any ideas?

 

[corkyg]

There seems to be a consensus among techs that HDD cooling fans are unnecessary with the possible exception of the older raptors (pre 2.5-in.) My own experience, which goes back to 1985, is just that. I have never had a HDD cooling fan nor have I ever had a HDD fail due to heat. and, that includes many 3.5=in and 2.5-in externals. I personally consider HDD cooling fans as not necessary.

 

[Blain]

Does anyone know if there is any point in cooling hard disks?

Any ideas?

Use liquid cooling rather than fans moving air.

 

[CakeMonster]

Disconnected the fans, noise levels are quite a lot more comfortable, and the disks are now ranging from 35-38C.

 

[meloz]

Anything under 35° celsius is good, IMO. Once you go over that failures might increase, and you would need extra fans to extract hot air from the case so that more cooler (hopefully) ambient air can come in.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Does anyone know if there is any point in cooling hard disks? I remember reading about a study a few years ago that counter-intuitively suggested that cooling fans did not help, but I'm not sure if there has been a follow up or if that was even reliable.

For normal desktop drives no, there is no need. Though if you have 5-10 drives packed together in a RAID array, a little airflow would not go amiss. Some older desktop drives had a nasty tendency to die quickly without active cooling, but that's 10+ years ago (I'm looking at you IBM DeathStars... ).

For 10.000 and 15.000RPM drives active cooling is, if not required, at least a good idea. Lower temperatures will prolong the life of the drive.

 

[CakeMonster]

Yeah, well I have nothing to go with here, since I can't measure reliability myself. I updated the post since temps increased a bit.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Yeah, well I have nothing to go with here, since I can't measure reliability myself. I updated the post since temps increased a bit.

That is not necessarily a bad thing. Optimal HDD temperature is between 25C and 40C. Above 40C is acceptable, while above 50C is too hot. It works the other way too. Below 25C can lead to higher-then-usual failure rates too.

Google did a massive study on this back in 2007. I don't think things have changed that much since.

 

[CakeMonster]

Ok, temps have been slowly increasing and now approaching 40 (35-38). And room temperature here is average if not below average. I'll watch them for a couple of days. Though I realize now the consensus is to just disregard temperatures, especially when the case is always open like mine.

 

[Coup27]

All the hard drive manufacturers produce data sheets for their drives which will include the minimum and maximum operating temperature. I would go and find this data sheet for whatever drives you have and see what it says.

For reference, I just checked a WD Black and it says 5c to 55c.

 

[CakeMonster]

Range of my "lowest" drive is 0-60C. I guess I should be more than safe.

 

[VirtualLarry]

The "oldschool" rule of thumb was something like, you needed a fan with and drive 7200 RPM and faster, especially if you had several sandwiched together in adjacent HDD slots.

For me, more than one drive == must have cooling fan.