Hard drive temperatures

wolfman

Just been running some performance tests etc... on my hard drives.

I've got 3x 500gb, a Maxtor Diamond Max 10, Seagate Barracuda 7200.10, and Samsung Spin Point (something).

I've been watching the temps, and the Samsung is bar far the coolest. Usually around 35C. The Maxtor usually sits 2-3C more at about 38C. But the Seagate is 8-10C hotter at up to 45C.

When I was really ragging it, it went up to 52C! If I rag the Samsung it goes no higher than 42C.

All the hard drives are installed in equal conditions so there's no bias. I was just a bit shocked by the temp of the Seagate. Does anyone else have one that runs hot?

Seagate say it's operating temps are up to 60C but I always read your hard drive should never be hotter than 44C (or so). I'll need to install a fan in the front of the case (it's a new case, I had fans on my Lian Li).

KILL_BILL

personally myself i dont like seagate

despite their claims on having the quitest drives in the market they havbe the noisest and get the hotest

when their drives are in opeartion is sounds like a a band of crickets in the computer.

is it a new drive - if so take it back

wolfman

Actually that's a point I missed. The Seagate is the noisiest. Well it was, I've now got my drives suspended via elastic cord so they're all very quiet.

I've had it for a couple of months so can't really take it back. Although it does occasionally make a skipping noise when firing up Rhythmbox, but I'm not sure if that's just bad data, or a bad disk sector.

Maxtor get a lot of bad press, but I quite like them. Really happy with my Samsung though which I only got last week. Excellent drive. Just a little disappointed with the Seagate given how a lot of people recommend them, was just wondering if it's a one off or all their drives run quite hot (I've read the 750gb version is a nightmare).

I'll probably try a Western Digital next. Not bought one of those for a while, but always liked them. Either that or another Samsung.

BillScarab

I always liked Maxtor until I had two fail on me in quick succession. I've always found Seagate reliable and you can always the speed which often improves the noise. In the past I've found that reducing the speed from 100% to 99% makes a very big difference to the noise. I've yet to try Samsung drives but I know they are supposed to be quiet, in a recent test in PC Format a Spinpoint came out on top for overall performance as well.

wolfman

It's mainly the temps that worry me. You can read all sorts of things, how a difference of 5C can make you drive much more likely to fail. The Seagate has all my music and personal stuff on it. I back it up regularly, so it's not a huge problem.

45C is quite hot, under a typical load it will be at 48C.

nickcardwell

Its fairly high but nothing it should cope with...

Wouldnt do any hard to get a fan blowing round the hard drives to shift air


Also the quietiest hard drives are defn samsung (got 2 in my HTPC)

BillScarab

You could always get a cooler for the seagate drive if you have room.

I'm going to have to go and check my drive temps tonight now.

needaspirin

Seagate now owns Maxtor.
My PC has 2 x 200gb Maxtor SATA drives, a 250gb Maxtor IDE and a 80gb Seagate IDE (that I have just replaced with a 320gb Maxtor IDE). The 250gb runs too hot to hold a finger on so I'm guessing about 50c.
I read somewhere that a study showed that elevated temp does not adversely affect HDD. Can't remember where I read it though.

Keldin

Install the Seagate in the top of the case and cut a hole in the top. This will allow the heat to dissipate out the top and give you something to put your coffee on to keep it hot. Plus you will be recycling excess heat and helping save the planet :-)
On a more helpful note can you not arrange it so that you store files on the hottest drive that are rarely accessed such as backups or long term storage? Then you can have that drive shut down after a few minutes non-use since it is not heavily used and it will stay cool?

K

wolfman

I can move it further down the case, right at the bottom in fact where it's cooler.

The other option is to put a fan in. It's a new case with a mount, but I've not had a chance to buy a fan.

All the drives are mounted via suspended elastic, so tricky to put a cooler on top.

Keldin

I wasn't being serious about the hole in the top for the coffee cup :-)
I was being serious about using the drive for rarely accessed files so it powers down (assuming you have your pc set to power down drives after x minutes of inactivity.

K