Hard drive tempature at 120 degrees F

[cranbers]

I have a seagate 7200.8 250gb hard drive. It runs great, and is like a hot plate. In fact it's usually running as hot as my processor does at full load at 120 degrees f.

I know the thermal limit for seagate drives is 140 f. Does anyone know if running it at even 120 is bad? Should I get a cooler for it? also does anyone know whath appends when a drive does over heat?

I do have cooling in my system a fan in front, read and a antec truepower psu with the big fan.

Also any idea what the normal/average running temp is for this drive? Like I said it's the hottest thing in my case at idle, the ambient temp in the case is around 100-110 degrees f. Air temp outsid the case is 75-80 degrees f.

Any help on the topic would be great! Thanks.

 

[The_Prophecy]

49C is hot for a hard drive..... if you have any spots in your case to mount front panel fans (preferably a 120mm) then get one, and have it blowing into the case.

Edit: Your ambient case temp is pretty warm too.... if you have an 80mm fan at the back, replace it with a 120mm if possible.

 

[ZOldDude]

I have a seagate 7200.8 250gb hard drive. It runs great, and is like a hot plate. In fact it's usually running as hot as my processor does at full load at 120 degrees f.

I know the thermal limit for seagate drives is 140 f. Does anyone know if running it at even 120 is bad? Should I get a cooler for it? also does anyone know whath appends when a drive does over heat?

I do have cooling in my system a fan in front, read and a antec truepower psu with the big fan.

Also any idea what the normal/average running temp is for this drive? Like I said it's the hottest thing in my case at idle, the ambient temp in the case is around 100-110 degrees f. Air temp outsid the case is 75-80 degrees f.

Any help on the topic would be great! Thanks.

Well for one thing your case does not seem to be well vented.
Well vented does NOT involve a bunch of fans...it is about <proper> air flow.

The first thing I would do is remove the rear fan guard on your case. If it is a fixed part of the case then buy a metal nibbler and cut it out so you get 100% exit air flow....most case fan guards block 70% of the air that the fan could move.

Your psu is not a case cooler and you should really never feel "hot" air comeing out of it. Not only will that shorten the lifespan of the psu but it effects the power output and any OC.

Z

 

[cranbers]

The hard drive is kept on one of those 5 1/2 inch rail mounts by the cd rom. I know there is little or no air circulation up there. My case temp tends to read at 100 degrees even if the side of the case is off. The ambient air temp in the room is around 74-78 f.

I hear what you say about the case fan rear exit. The psu I have which is this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103933
As you can see has a very large fan drawing air from the cpu area. I am sure that would at least help get some of the hot air out of the case wouldn't it?

That is a good idea about cutting out the metal "grill" covering the rear case fan I have no doubt that will help air move more efficently. Do you think one of those cyclones that sucks air out of the case and mounts ina pci slot would be good?

Also what in your opinnion is good for a case temp? What about a hard drive temp? I think I read somewhere that these seagate drives run hot anyway, guess I will have to see what everyone elses average temp is.

Thank for your responses so far I appreciate it!

 

[phreejak]

My system temp is 87 degrees faren (about 31 degrees celsius) and my WD Raptors are not much warmer than that (they hover around 29-32 degrees celsius)

 

[cranbers]

So what kind of coolling do you have in your case and what is the room's air temp? Also what is your system specs?

Thanks I appreciate it.

 

[phreejak]

My System:

Presler 955 3.46
Abit AW8D
7900 GT
2 gigs DDR2 800
2 WD 34 gig raptors in raid 0
1 Maxtor 300GB
Creative X-Fi Fatality
52-in-1 card reader
Coolermaster Stacker Case
SILVERSTONE SST-ST75ZF 750w PSU
dual cold cathode LED kit


Peltier cooler on the CPU (Swiftech)
Watercooled GPU (Danger Den NV78)
*120mm intake fan in the front at the bottom (from Coolermaster Stacker HDD Cage)
*120mm intake fan on the side (LED from window mod)
*120mm outtake fan at the top (LED from window mod)

I use two dual 120mm rads but they are mounted externally so they don't affect my system temp

ambient temp - mmm-- weather says it is 71 degrees but it's cooler in my apartment. I do live by the beach here in NY so that may have something to do with it.

 

[cranbers]

So its safe to say you have pretty good air flow through your case. I like to have a quiet computer, I do have fans 80mm I guess running in the front, and then one in the rear. They are not spinning at full speed though for quiet purposes, they are really loud when running at full rpm, I wonder if I cut out the grill in the front and back of the case if that will cut down on the noise when they do run full speed. I guess all i can do is try it out and see what happends.

thanks for your input, I am sure though a lot of your computer's cool running, has to do with the temperature in your apartment, if its under 70 degrees f then the air going into your computer would be quite a bit cooler then mine, I don't know how much that would help your computers case temp but if you have cool air flow, then you have a low air temp it adds up.

When my processor idles, at the same temp as my case temp and my hard drive is 20 degrees warmer, I guess that doesn't show good things. I will have to get a hdd cooler that mounts under neath the drive I guess that you can get from bb, cc etc for a few bucks. I wonder if one of those front coolers that mount in a 5 1/ 2 inch bay would be a good idea or both even? Have to look at some cost comparisons.

These are my average case temps at idle and full load during gaming etc.

mb temp: 100 idle -110 full load degrees f
cpu temp: 96 idle- 131 full load degrees f
video card: 47c idle 55c full load
northbridge: 79f idle 90f full load
hard drive: 107 idle 115-120 while system at full load.


thanks again.

 

[The_Prophecy]

Mount your hard drive in a regular 3 1/2" bay. Simple physics here..... heat rises. If your drive is mounted near the roof of the case, of course it's going to be warmer, ESPECIALLY if you don't have very good air flow in your case. And more fans does not mean more noise. I have a total of 8 fans in my computer. 5 case fans: 4 - 80mm (1 on the roof blowing up, 2 at the back blowing out, 1 on the side blowing in) and 1 - 120mm (front panel, blowing in over the hard drives), plus the CPU fan (on a stock LGA775 cooler), PSU fan and video card fan (Zalman VF900) . I can just barely hear my case will all of these fans running at full speed.

Find a 120mm fan (80mm if your case doesn't have any spots for 120mm fans) with the highest CFM at the lowest dba level. Anything above 30dba will be noticable.

 

[phreejak]

Is there any way that you can create a blowhole in the top of your case to put an exhaust fan in? I am not sure of the arrangment of your fans but if you can draw air in at the lower part of your case (or, at least, midlevel as I do with my side window mod) and exhaust air out the upper part of your case that would improve your conditions. Also, 120mm fans move alot more air than 80mm fans and there are some seriously quiet ones if there is any way you could add them.

Other things to consider would be to add drive bay fan units of some sort if it will help your circulation.

I think you'd experience a drop in overall temps of your components if you could manage better air circulation. The_Prophecy had a good suggestion if it is possible for you - consider mounting the drives in a regular bay (even add, bay fan blowers in front of it if you can).

 

[cranbers]

I appreciate the help guys, I don't believe there is enough room though between the psu and the cd rom case for a blow hole. Maybe a very tiny one I suppose but I don't know if it would be worth it.

I am wondering though if the culprite is bad case circulation, or if it is quite simply, a hot running hard drive. I remember reading a review on this drive where it mentioned this drive does run hot in comparison to others. That is why it would be so helpful if I could find other owners of the same drive to compare temps.

I think I am going to cut out the grill in the front and back and see i that helps with airflow, then I am going to let them run at full speed and see how loud it is.

That is amazing that you can have that much airflow/fans with little or no noise. It must be the 120mm size? I guess I will have to ge adapters for my case in order to fit them in, as my mounts are for 80mm


Thanks again all I appreciate it.

 

[cranbers]

I cut the grill's off the front and back of the case to let more air through for the fans. After about an hour of testing my case temp doesn't go above 102, the hard drive when being scanned or accessed for a long period of time does still go into the 110-115 range.

I did try to move the rear one up to full speed by plugging it into the motherbaord header, that thing moves a heck of a lot of air and sounds like a cyclone, I guess I will have to get a different one, my case temps did drop to 96 at that time though.

The mian problem though being my hard drive still hasn't really changed so I guess a hard drive cooler and maybe even a bay cooler to bring cool air in over the drive would be good. also I was thinking about doing a blow hole, but I don't know if that will help really and would involve some cutting. There is also a spot for a fan on my side case cover, it has a grill and some screw holes so maybe ill look into getting another fan for that at as well. Ill get this cooling situation under control, although it's really not extremely bad, my system is complete stable and is over clocked pretty heavily.

So we will see, thanks for all your help.

 

[phreejak]

What kind of case do you have?

 

[shamoo]

buy one of these
if sata
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1082396&CatId=285
if ide
just pick up a standard hd cooler.

 

[cranbers]

What kind of case do you have?

This is similiar to what I have, of course the front bazel is a little different and of course I replaced the psu.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811154003

 

[phreejak]

Am I correct in assuming that you don't have much (or little) exprience with modding? Your case, if it is similar to the case you pointed out, has alot of modding potential to help create better air circulation.

 

[cranbers]

Am I correct in assuming that you don't have much (or little) exprience with modding? Your case, if it is similar to the case you pointed out, has a lot of modding potential to help create better air circulation.

Well if your talking about taking a case, then turning it into a work of art, that is correct I have little experience. I typically just buy a case and use it as is.

What did you have in mind? I already cut out the fan grill in the front and rear of the case to help with air flow. That seems to have helped a bit as my case temp is slightly lower at around 100 degrees - 102 at the motherboard temp gage.

I am going to go ahead and buy a hard drive cooler from best buy or circuit city tomorrow, maybe I will take a look at overpriced comp usa even. I know online would be cheaper, but after paying for shipping it will be about the same, at least on stuff that small.

I am going to buy two other case fans as well, some that will push more air but be a bit more quiet, as I said before the one I have now is on the power supply fan plug, that is used for throttling the case fans, I dint mean on the motherboard but antec has a special plug used for case fans which helps to lower the rpm, and make them more friendly on the ear the front fan is on the motherboard header itself and is quiet and does move some pretty good air, so maybe another one like that would be good.

One will be put in the rear hopefully it will be more quiet and push more air at the same time. Also I Will be putting one on the case side door which is located right above the cpu fan. I will also look into getting a dremel tool and cut a circular hole and some screw holes in the top of my case, and create a blow hole to help get rid of the hot air in the top of the case.

I really should just buy a new case and junk this pos. But I am married and well, she will kill me if she knows I am spending money in such a "stupid" way to her. Changing the case would be obvious, where as just making changes in the fans would not be, So we will see.


also anyone have any ideas what would be good to help with keeping dust out? LIke panty hose or screens or dryer sheets or something?
Thanks

 

[The_Prophecy]

don't use dust filters.... they limit airflow into the case, hurting your cooling performance.

 

[phreejak]

Cutting a blowhole in the top OR getting a wondow mod and putting a window on top that has a fan mount. By cutting a blowhole (fanmount) on top I mean one for an 80mm or 120mm fan so you could have a fan exhaling air at it's warmest point - at the top.

 

[cranbers]

Cutting a blowhole in the top OR getting a wondow mod and putting a window on top that has a fan mount. By cutting a blowhole (fanmount) on top I mean one for an 80mm or 120mm fan so you could have a fan exhaling air at it's warmest point - at the top.

I see, yeah there does seem to be enough room in the top of the case for that to happen, There would be enough clearance between the psu and the cd rom mounts, I am sure that would help get rid of some hot air stuck up there with no where to go, it simply will sit there and continue to build up until you turn off the computer.

Any idea just howmuch that may help coool my computer down? Also any tips on how to make the hole? should I use a hole saw, or should I use a dremel tool?

 

[phreejak]

A dremel is a modders best friend......

Although, a hole saw would make it faster.

Just make sure that you draw out the fan placing so you dont cut away the area for the fan screws.

As for the benefits, overall it would be good - even excellent. It would benefit the case interior environment which would also benefit all your components and, especially, that hot running hard drive.

 

[shamoo]

spare your self and get a 5.25 inch bay cooler that has a fan that will draw air into the case for the top parts including your harddrive or get the hard drive cooler like i posted earlier. If you must cut a hole with a dremal make sure you mask off the surface your cutting to help lower the chance of damaging the areas arround the hole. also remove all parts as cutting though metal spreads a fine metal powder that will get in your componets. When done with the hole make sure you clean the case with a wet rag a few times and visually inspect for bards that might come lose eventually those pose hazzards to the motherboard.

 

[cranbers]

A dremel is a modders best friend......

Although, a hole saw would make it faster.

Just make sure that you draw out the fan placing so you dont cut away the area for the fan screws.

As for the benefits, overall it would be good - even excellent. It would benefit the case interior environment which would also benefit all your components and, especially, that hot running hard drive.[/quote

Would you recommend placing the fan inside the case or on top outside the case?

I was thinking of getting this for the hard drive: http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=60

or this instead which is cheaper:
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?pfp=BROWSE&No=80&N=200369&product_code=317138&Pn=Hard_Drive_Cooler_Anti_Noise_Device

 

[chuckshissle]

That a bit warm for a hard drive. The normal or ideal operating temps of a hard drive is 30c-35c or 75f-85f and normal room temperature. Do you have a fan directing cool air to that hard drive? If so then you need to do so and if there's no fan mount in front of that hard drive then you need to creative and mod your case or just place a fan to blow cool air towards that warm hard drive. Like you said the temps does not reach the maximum temp threshold but a cooler hard drive runs better and may have longer lifespan as well.

 

[phreejak]

What you do, if it can be done, is put the fan on the inside and a grill on the outside. Place rubber groomets between the fan and where it contacts the case material so that they will act as vibration dampers and help keep the fan quiter. Having a grill on the outside will protect it.

That HDD cooler is actually pretty nice. I had never seen that particular model before but the thing I like the most about it is that is has a heatsink/fan combo and it would probably help your tremendously. It will blow the hot air inside the case though so it is paramount that you have good air circulation and having a blowhole/fanmount at the top would really help here.