On 1 Aug 2005 12:35:09 -0700, "Random Person"
wrote:

"I think your drives are overheating, and they shouldn't have
been ran like that at all."

Are there any tools for me to detect my HD temperature? I have 2
IBM/Hitachi 120GB HDDs, 1 Maxtor 80GB HDD and 1 Seagate 160GB HDD.
Would there be any temperature tools for any of the brands?

Google?

Feel the drives with your hands- if it feels hot it is hot.



"You don't meniton your power supply but if it's less than ~400W
(Antec?) then it's probably not sufficient for the parts you listed."

I have an Antec Truepower 350W PSU. My computer is a:
AMD XP 2500+ "Barton"
Abit NF-7 mobo
SB Audigy
Radeon 9800 Pro
4 HDDs (2 in Primary IDE channel, 2 via a Silicon Image ATA/133
controller card)
2 ODDs (1 DVD+/-RW, 1 CD-RW)
3 added 80cm fans.

Measure voltages under full load (like 3Dmark 2003 looping).
Your PSU is marginal for the parts. Having the (relatively)
lower-powered Barton will help (unless you're overclocking
it, and raising voltage), but not as much as the Radeon 9800
Pro and the drives take away. It "could" be sufficient
for the system though, I'd consider it questionable and
borderline, not yet a known problem. Measure voltages,
preferribly with a multimeter at each (load), at the power
connectors to each part.



Current board temperature is 33'C, CPU temp 49'C. I understand your
point about changing the case but I'd like to avoid that if possible (I
just bought 3 fans, after all). It is a major hassle swapping cases...

Buying 3 fans doesn't necessarily move air past the drives
much. That one drive next to the bottom front fan may be
cooler running than the rest but overall it isn't suitable.
The bottom front fan will typically reduce flow past the
drive in the top of the drive rack too.

The best arrangement will have a case front (metal) wall
with very open areas in front of the drive racks, and
nowhere else! Any other openings simply reduce the flow
past the drives. Likewise the plastic front bezel needs
have same or more intake area or it's even even worse flow
impedance. Indeed, two same-area intakes will reduce flow
more than if the front bezel weren't installed at all (if we
ignored any gaps further up on the case frame, which is
usually not the situation).

It's not a matter of hassle really, just that the case isn't
fit for the use. Hassle or not the case was poorly designed
and now you have a 2nd drive failure. Impossible to know
with 100% certainty that both failures would've been
prevented but there is a clear relationship between
overheating and failure.