How hot is too hot?

I have recently installed a program called Hard Disk Sentinel and I just received a warning that one of my external drives that is having a lot of data written to it has a temp that is over 50 degrees. This is the early warning and a 2nd one is set for over 57 degrees at which point I had set the program to shut down the drive.

Can someone give me some idea if the level of 57 degrees is too hot for the drive and if they not at what point should I become concerned.

Thanks in advance.

PS: when I first got the message I turned the drive on its side so more surface area was exposed and the temp has dropped back to 50 degrees from a high of 52 degrees over a period of about 15 min.

 

I don't remember with precision but I think most drives can deal with < 60 degrees C for very short periods of time.
But I'd still be concerned if any of my drives would reach those temps you're mentioning. Normal temps for a drive under heavy load should be < 40 degrees C in my opinion.

 

http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/18/massive-google-hard-drive-survey-turns-up-very-interesting-thing/

 

I use HDS too and my external would go around 60 degrees when copying massive files, I have operated this over 6 years, and still fine. Just a side note, I make it stand sideways when it gets too hot and it cools down slowly. Oh well and there were times it got too hot and I inclined my water bottle to cool it fast. Thats probably not for everyone I guess.

 

Good software indeed. And for those interested, there is a running giveaway for the v4.20 Pro free. The very last update is 4.40 but this version is working great for me (win 7x64). The free key is available from the software developer.

-http://www.buzz99.com/3430/hard-disk-sentinel-standard-edition-free/#more-3430

(if you can find the portable version, the key is working for this one too)

 

Hi bgoodman4

I have two laptops: one has an AMD drive, and that other is intel. The AMD drive runs far hotter than the intel. Dependingon the ambient temp the AMD runs happily at circ 55/62 and has done so for the last5 years,

The intel has never been higher than 42.

Regards, Marse

 

I have two WD USB external HDDs connected to my desktop and I noticed from the beginning that they both seemed to run a little hot. As mentioned already, ambient room temperature and demand on the drive can certainly have an affect on this.

So, here's what I did to help things a little. I purchased a usb laptop "Chill Mat" that has two usb-powered built-in fans. I then place the externals vertically on the mat directly over the fans. It definitely seems to help control the temperature -- at least in my case.

 

external drives can sometimes run hotter than normal. what kind of drive is it? is the housing metal or plastic, does it have any vents or holes? if so are they clear? many factors can change the temp of a external drive even the overall room temps can play a factor. was it sitting next to a output fan of a laptop blowing the warm air at it.. etc more info also try a different program some do not report smart data properly for many drives and some drives do not report smart data well at all with any program as a example i have a hitachi 1tb in the laptop om typing on and just to check quick i opened perfect disk (i dont have anything else installed at the moment) and it cant even read the smart data at all on this drive.

 

Thanks for the replies, the drive is a 1 Terabyte WD USB3, plastic housing, no vents or holes that I can see

It was indeed sitting near the laptop air vent but not too close. I was copying about 500 gigs of data to it and about 70% of the way through the job the warning popped up. After I turned the drive on its side it began to cool down a bit. By the time the job was finished it had cooled to 49 degrees. It typically runs between 35 and 48 degrees centigrade BTW.

In the HDS interface there is a suggestion as follows

I have no idea how to do this and I was not able to find instructions in the help files for the program. If someone could let me know how to do the calibration I would be most grateful.

 

Nice idea, thanks.

 

honestly from your response i think you are fine. i own a few of those wd enclosures and they do run a bit hotter than others i have (i have more than 30 external drives). though i prefer the seagate externals personally much more than the wd ones. i do recc and stock some brands of aluminum enclosures the hornettek ones are my personal favorites they are vented i could recc to you if you feel its getting to hot and you could move the drive into something like those. but otherwise i think you are fine. you would be very surprised how hot they can get sitting near the vents for a extended time.

 

You have to use an infrared thermometer for that...obviously not for average Joe or standard paranoid too. Thats because, the temp shown is only an approx value, most of the time it varies a little. Not by much, but only 3-4 degrees I suppose. In that case you can use an infrared thermometer to hold near the case and calibrate accordingly. I really dont think you need to do that unless your drive is showing 40 degrees and at the same time smoking...

 

Thank you

 

Thank you, I will stop worrying about this now and get on with my life. Much appreciated.