Hard Disk Health and Temps

[akash3656]

Hi,
My 1st post. xD.
Well, I'm now a bit scared of my hard disk.
1st: After turning off the computer from the plug a few times (coz it hanged).
My hard disk kinda fail(it was running chkdsk),but it didn't recover, so i changed
my SATA cable, used Seagate's SeaTools for DOS(full test+repair), i got my
computer hard disk back.
YAY. xD Now, what should I do?

2nd: I also realized my temps for my hard disk (IMO) a bit high, idle(from cold boot):
~40C and after some time it goes around 44-47C. I have 2 hard disks.
One is Seagate 2008 SATA 500 GB and a Maxtor December 2004 80 GB IDE.
Btw, the computer shop positioned my hard disk right next to each other without
leaving space. Is that the cause? What else can I do to cool down my hard disk?
UPDATE: I have separated the hard disks, now the temparatures are better
Idle(cold boot): 37-39C after some time using the computer: 40-43C
Are the new temps safe enough? I experienced a lock up once b4 separating
the disks.

PS: I'm scared of killing my disks coz i have no backup
(coz i don't have enough space for backup) T.T

 

[Blain]

There's only one way you can reduce your HD temeratures...
Move air across them. :thumbsup:


Oops, sorry, I forgot. There is another way to reduce temps...
Water cool the drives. 😉

 

[RebateMonger]

Your temperatues sound OK. But drives can still fail. Consider an external hard drive for backups. 1 Terabyte external drives (USB or eSATA) are about $100 nowadays.

 

[Binky]

Your temps are fine. If you're bored, look up the google hard drive reliability study.

Here's a quote:

"The figure shows that failures do not increase when the average temperature increases.
In fact, there is a clear trend showing that lower temperatures are associated with higher failure rates. Only at very high temperatures is there a slight reversal of this trend."

 

[hazeman]

I'd like to comment as this has been a concern of mine for years. Aside from external 3rd party temp monitors, app and bios temp readings are done how? There's no thermocouple on the Hard Drive. The BIOS PC Health screen shows roughly 40C at idle and HDTune shows between 39-41C at idle and only a few degree difference at full load. Some of the figures on the internet that I pulled up suggest a nominal temp of 45C is typical to most SATA drives running under 10k RPM; HDTune shows a default warning at 55C. So if I had to say, to the OP, your temps are fine. What I'd like to know is if these readings I'm getting are accurate?

 

[akash3656]

Originally posted by: Blain
There's only one way you can reduce your HD temeratures...
Move air across them. :thumbsup:


Oops, sorry, I forgot. There is another way to reduce temps...
Water cool the drives. 😉

LOL, water cooling, EXPENSIVE! Option 2 move air.... (I will remember to do that on my next rig), now my disks are fine after separating and error checking them.

Will be replying the rest later. Thx BTW, but after error checking my semi failed disk, what should i do?

 

[rarebear]

Also Welcome to the Forum.....

 

[akash3656]

How about I buy an internal drive (750 GB???) and convert it to external(adapter+??). Will it be cheaper(coz in my contrie 100 US$ isn't cheap money 361 bucks local price...)?? Btw, i don't think i will move around the external hard disk much.... Cheaper solution i think... and also WORTHWHILE.

 

[akash3656]

Originally posted by: Binky
Your temps are fine. If you're bored, look up the google hard drive reliability study.

Here's a quote:

"The figure shows that failures do not increase when the average temperature increases.
In fact, there is a clear trend showing that lower temperatures are associated with higher failure rates. Only at very high temperatures is there a slight reversal of this trend."

NO!!! NOT SAFE!!! MY HARD DISK LOCKED UP ONCE (with case open i think it reached 49-50+C). THATS BAD! Average temps of 40-45C sounds better. At least now I have 5-10C headroom. (in my contrie and my roon, its HOT! like room temperature 30C?)

 

[Greg04]

Originally posted by: akash3656
Hi,
My 1st post. xD.
Well, I'm now a bit scared of my hard disk.
1st: After turning off the computer from the plug a few times (coz it hanged).
My hard disk kinda fail(it was running chkdsk),but it didn't recover, so i changed
my SATA cable, used Seagate's SeaTools for DOS(full test+repair), i got my
computer hard disk back.
YAY. xD Now, what should I do?

2nd: I also realized my temps for my hard disk (IMO) a bit high, idle(from cold boot):
~40C and after some time it goes around 44-47C. I have 2 hard disks.
One is Seagate 2008 SATA 500 GB and a Maxtor December 2004 80 GB IDE.
Btw, the computer shop positioned my hard disk right next to each other without
leaving space. Is that the cause? What else can I do to cool down my hard disk?
UPDATE: I have separated the hard disks, now the temparatures are better
Idle(cold boot): 37-39C after some time using the computer: 40-43C
Are the new temps safe enough? I experienced a lock up once b4 separating
the disks.

PS: I'm scared of killing my disks coz i have no backup
(coz i don't have enough space for backup) T.T

read this ...

 

[Binky]

Originally posted by: akash3656
NO!!! NOT SAFE!!! MY HARD DISK LOCKED UP ONCE (with case open i think it reached 49-50+C). THATS BAD!

Yeah...so once I had a drive fail on Tuesday. Now I leave all of my computers off on Tuesday so that will never happen to me again.:roll:

 

[alkalinetaupehat]

So I have an awesome APES teacher who lets me use a MacTools infrared thermometer. Took a shot at my HDD, temperatures were between 23.9*C and 26.2*C depending where on the drive I had the laser pointed.

Case is an Antec P182, HDD is in the lower bay area with a Scythe fan between the HDD and PSU. Haven't had any problems for nine months now. Hope this helps, iirc $100 infrared thermometers tend to be pretty accurate.

EDIT: From what I've heard, 20C is about as low as you want to go with HDD's, and 50C is the highest you want to go.