When Do You Need A HDD Cooler?

Hi,

I will be buying a 250GB HDD, brand undecided. Will
it need a cooler? It will be for archiving so accesses
might be few, if that matters.

Thanks,
Gary

Gary Brown wrote:
Hi,

I will be buying a 250GB HDD, brand undecided. Will
it need a cooler? It will be for archiving so accesses
might be few, if that matters.

Thanks,
Gary




The only time I've found it necessary to have a cooler on a HD was when
using 10,000RPM or faster drives. Of course if the case is badly
designed and allows no airflow around the drive and doesn't offer a good
conductive heat path I'd either pick a different case or add a cooler
just in case. My newest system has five 7,200 RPM drives (1 X 160gB SATA
and 4 X 200gB PATA) in it but the Antec Sonata II case was thought out
well enough that none of the drives ever gets much above body
temperature (at least not above a slight fever). The Shuttle SFF system
I'm typing on now doesn't have nearly the airflow of the Antec but the
300gB SATA in it is screwed in between two thick sheets of aluminum
which conduct heat pretty well and the drive temperature is 42C . If
that was a fever it might kill you but it isn't too bad for a HD. ;-)
--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

Gary Brown wrote:
Hi,

I will be buying a 250GB HDD, brand undecided. Will
it need a cooler? It will be for archiving so accesses
might be few, if that matters.



Use this or the manufacturer's SMART utility to determine temperatures.
http://www.ariolic.com/download.html

I almost always have an intake fan blowing over the hard drive(s), just in
case.

Keep the operating below 40C and it should be fine. Mine is at 33C right
now, assuming the sensor and software are accurate.

Seagate hard drives are known to be cooler operating than most. My limited
experience with the Samsung line suggest the same.

As always, YMMV.

On Tue, 27 Sep 2005 18:38:19 GMT, "S.Heenan" wrote:

Use this or the manufacturer's SMART utility to determine temperatures.
http://www.ariolic.com/download.html

Why pay for something so simple as determining SMART info when there's
Everest which is free and full of extras.

http://www.lavalys.hu/products/overv...?pid=1&lang=en

--

Greatest Movie Line Ever
http://home.houston.rr.com/rkba/MovieLine.wmv

"What is history but the story of how politicians have
squandered the blood and treasure of the human race?"
--Thomas Sowell

On Tue, 27 Sep 2005 13:40:32 -0400, "Gary Brown"
wrote:

Hi,

I will be buying a 250GB HDD, brand undecided. Will
it need a cooler? It will be for archiving so accesses
might be few, if that matters.

Thanks,
Gary



It needs to stay as cool as reasonably possible. If your
case/airflow doesn't allow this, yes you could need a
cooler. A properly designed (for modern use) case with
ample passive intake and fan-exhaust OR a case with a pusher
fan in front of the HDD rack should not need a separate
cooler.

If you are stacking drives one atop another, don't do
that... there should remain (roughly) minimum of 1cm between
each drive in a rack, which unfortunately too often means
that only every other rack position can be used because the
case designer ignored the need to engineer for component
cooling beyond the simpliest of holes/strategy in the front
of the case.

Generally speaking, if you have the case closed and are
using the drive for at least 30 minutes, open it up and feel
the drive with your hand. If the casing feels more than
"warm", you should consider either a cooler or the
aforementioned, more common strategy to reduce temp some.

Generally speaking, if you have the case closed and are
using the drive for at least 30 minutes, open it up and feel
the drive with your hand. If the casing feels more than
"warm", you should consider either a cooler or the
aforementioned, more common strategy to reduce temp some.

I run my system 24/7 with 2x WD 7200RPM drives (1x 80GB and 1x 200GB), the first
runs at 42 degrees C, the second at 38 degress.

The drives are too warm to touch (not burning hot, but uncomfortable hot). Is
this too hot ?

Regards,
Chris



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Skeleton Man wrote:
Generally speaking, if you have the case closed and are
using the drive for at least 30 minutes, open it up and feel
the drive with your hand. If the casing feels more than
"warm", you should consider either a cooler or the
aforementioned, more common strategy to reduce temp some.


I run my system 24/7 with 2x WD 7200RPM drives (1x 80GB and 1x 200GB), the first
runs at 42 degrees C, the second at 38 degress.

The drives are too warm to touch (not burning hot, but uncomfortable hot). Is
this too hot ?

Regards,
Chris



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http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups
----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----

37C is considered to be "normal" human body temperature. If the drive
that is at 38C is indeed "uncomfortable hot" then either you must have
very sensitive hands or the temperature being displayed may be wrong.
Even 42C is only about 108F and that doesn't even count as a hot day in
some parts North America. Cooler is indeed better but I wouldn't
consider either of these temperatures as "hot".

FWIW Western Digital allows for operating temperatures of 5-55C (up to
65C case temperature!) for some of their modern drives. Seagate is in
the same ballpark.

http://www.3dvelocity.com/reviews/wd...#environmental

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

On Tue, 27 Sep 2005 16:19:08 -0400, "Skeleton Man"
wrote:

Generally speaking, if you have the case closed and are
using the drive for at least 30 minutes, open it up and feel
the drive with your hand. If the casing feels more than
"warm", you should consider either a cooler or the
aforementioned, more common strategy to reduce temp some.

I run my system 24/7 with 2x WD 7200RPM drives (1x 80GB and 1x 200GB), the first
runs at 42 degrees C, the second at 38 degress.

The drives are too warm to touch (not burning hot, but uncomfortable hot). Is
this too hot ?

You cannot determine drive temp with only the software temp
reading, because it is only the temp of the chip taking it,
a chip isolated for each and every other chip. The PCB
insulates more than conducting heat (including traces) so
the temp report can only be used in conjunction with other
means.

If they're too hot to keep your hand on comfortably, yes I'd
try to increase cooling some. Those drives aren't even
relatively very hot running so there may be some airflow
issues in the whole chassis causing this?

On Tue, 27 Sep 2005 16:38:21 -0400, John McGaw
wrote:


37C is considered to be "normal" human body temperature. If the drive
that is at 38C is indeed "uncomfortable hot" then either you must have
very sensitive hands or the temperature being displayed may be wrong.
Even 42C is only about 108F and that doesn't even count as a hot day in
some parts North America. Cooler is indeed better but I wouldn't
consider either of these temperatures as "hot".

FWIW Western Digital allows for operating temperatures of 5-55C (up to
65C case temperature!) for some of their modern drives. Seagate is in
the same ballpark.

http://www.3dvelocity.com/reviews/wd...#environmental


IMO, one should not expect good service from a drive if it's
operating in the upper end of it's allowed temp range.

The general consensus is that temp matters yet it would be
exceedingly hard for most people to cause their drives to
run past 55C... suggesting the real upper limit is lower for
best lifespan.

Gary Brown wrote:

I will be buying a 250GB HDD, brand undecided. Will
it need a cooler?

Probably not, but I install my drives vertically because it drops the
body temp about 1-3 Celcius and the hottest chips by as much as 10-20C,
and unlike a drive cooler I don't have to worry about fan failure (plus
the drives hang right next to the case fan at the lower front).