overheating hard disk

Michael Hawes wrote:

 > "Alex Hunsley" <lard.RemoveThis@tardis.ed.ac.molar.uk> wrote in message
 > news:10cb3315h22a802@corp.supernews.com...
 >
  >>Things in my PC have been getting very hot (e.g. har disks and even CDs in
 >
 > the
 >
  >>CD drive!). Am I correct in thinking that when things overheat it's
 >
 > generally
 >
  >>the case that the PSU on my PC is not shifting enough air out of the back
 >
 > for
 >
  >>whatever reason? The CPU fan is fine and wouldn't have much to do with the
 >
 > HD
 >
  >>anyway....
  >>thanks
  >>alex
  >>
 >
 > Can you feel hot air from rear of PSU? If not, check PSU fan is running,
 > open case and check for fluff build up at front where air should be
 > entering.
 >
 > Mike.
 >

Yup, there is air coming from the rear of the PSU, and no fluff at the intake.
I spoke to someone that confirmed to me that the PSU fan is there to cool only
the PSU, and is not supposed to act as a case cooler.

I'm just mystified as to why my hard disks are getting so hot. I've put in a
new HD and it also is getting very hot. (It got to 60 degrees C in about an
hour or less of the pc being on!) Could it be something to do with the power
being suplpied to the HD being incorrect somehow (but still within the limits
of what the HD can use, but causing overheating?)



alex<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: overheating hard disk 

Alex Hunsley wrote:

 > Michael Hawes wrote:
 >
  >> "Alex Hunsley" <lard DeleteThis @tardis.ed.ac.molar.uk> wrote in message
  >> news:10cb3315h22a802@corp.supernews.com...
  >>
   >>>Things in my PC have been getting very hot (e.g. har disks and even CDs
   >>>in
  >>
  >> the
  >>
   >>>CD drive!). Am I correct in thinking that when things overheat it's
  >>
  >> generally
  >>
   >>>the case that the PSU on my PC is not shifting enough air out of the back
  >>
  >> for
  >>
   >>>whatever reason? The CPU fan is fine and wouldn't have much to do with
   >>>the
  >>
  >> HD
  >>
   >>>anyway....
   >>>thanks
   >>>alex
   >>>
  >>
  >> Can you feel hot air from rear of PSU? If not, check PSU fan is running,
  >> open case and check for fluff build up at front where air should be
  >> entering.
  >>
  >> Mike.
  >>
 >
 > Yup, there is air coming from the rear of the PSU, and no fluff at the
 > intake.

How hot is the air coming out of the PSU? The hotter it is the more heat
it's removing.

 > I spoke to someone that confirmed to me that the PSU fan is there
 > to cool only the PSU, and is not supposed to act as a case cooler.

Was that someone an employee of the manufacturing company that makes the
power supply? Many of the power supplies on the market today are made with
excess fan capacity with the intent that they be used to cool the case.
And many machines have only one fan, the one in the power supply, that is
there to provide all needed cooling.

 > I'm just mystified as to why my hard disks are getting so hot. I've put in
 > a new HD and it also is getting very hot. (It got to 60 degrees C in about
 > an hour or less of the pc being on!) Could it be something to do with the
 > power being suplpied to the HD being incorrect somehow (but still within
 > the limits of what the HD can use, but causing overheating?)

Are the disks in the airflow path?
 >
 >
 >
 > alex

--
--John
Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: overheating hard disk 

Alex Hunsley <lard DeleteThis @tardis.ed.ac.molar.uk> wrote in message news:<10cb3315h22a802 DeleteThis @corp.supernews.com>...
 > Things in my PC have been getting very hot (e.g. har disks and even CDs in the
 > CD drive!). Am I correct in thinking that when things overheat it's generally
 > the case that the PSU on my PC is not shifting enough air out of the back for
 > whatever reason? The CPU fan is fine and wouldn't have much to do with the HD
 > anyway....
 > thanks
 > alex

It depends on the ambient temperature quite a bit. A few degress less
in room tempature can make a big difference.

Condider taking off the cover.

Is this a new machine? Old machine but new problem?<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: overheating hard disk 

J. Clarke wrote:
 > Alex Hunsley wrote:
 >
 >
  >>Michael Hawes wrote:
  >>
   >>>Can you feel hot air from rear of PSU? If not, check PSU fan is running,
   >>>open case and check for fluff build up at front where air should be
   >>>entering.
   >>>
   >>> Mike.
   >>>
  >>
  >>Yup, there is air coming from the rear of the PSU, and no fluff at the
  >>intake.
 >
 >
 > How hot is the air coming out of the PSU? The hotter it is the more heat
 > it's removing.

It's not too hot. Warm certainly.

 >
 >
  >>I spoke to someone that confirmed to me that the PSU fan is there
  >>to cool only the PSU, and is not supposed to act as a case cooler.
 >
 >
 > Was that someone an employee of the manufacturing company that makes the
 > power supply? Many of the power supplies on the market today are made with
 > excess fan capacity with the intent that they be used to cool the case.
 > And many machines have only one fan, the one in the power supply, that is
 > there to provide all needed cooling.

Interesting! I always thought the PSU *did* cool the case a bit.

No, the person who told me this was an engineer at the shop who sold me the
PSU; when I took it back thinking it was faulty because my HD was getting very
hot, he said this.

  >>I'm just mystified as to why my hard disks are getting so hot. I've put in
  >>a new HD and it also is getting very hot. (It got to 60 degrees C in about
  >>an hour or less of the pc being on!) Could it be something to do with the
  >>power being suplpied to the HD being incorrect somehow (but still within
  >>the limits of what the HD can use, but causing overheating?)
 >
 >
 > Are the disks in the airflow path?

Not sure exactly what you mean by "airflow path": the HD is in the usual place
in an ATX case, and the case is closed. (There is only one HD now: a Maxtor
200gb 7200 rpm SATA V drive)

A new development: I've added a new fan at the fan slot inside the front of
case, oriented so that it sucks cold air *into* the case.
The HD heats up more slowly now, but still reaches 60+ centigrade eventually.
(after an hour and a bit).

Do you know what is considered the maximum safe temp. for HDs before you risk
reduced lifetime and failure?

alex<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: overheating hard disk 

V-man wrote:

 > Alex Hunsley <lard DeleteThis @tardis.ed.ac.molar.uk> wrote in message news:<10cb3315h22a802 DeleteThis @corp.supernews.com>...
 >
  >>Things in my PC have been getting very hot (e.g. har disks and even CDs in the
  >>CD drive!). Am I correct in thinking that when things overheat it's generally
  >>the case that the PSU on my PC is not shifting enough air out of the back for
  >>whatever reason? The CPU fan is fine and wouldn't have much to do with the HD
  >>anyway....
  >>thanks
  >>alex
 >
 >
 > It depends on the ambient temperature quite a bit. A few degress less
 > in room tempature can make a big difference.
 >
 > Condider taking off the cover.
 >
 > Is this a new machine? Old machine but new problem?

Old machine, new problem. I had an 80gb SATAV 7200 rpm drive in it for 6months,
and only recently did I notice things getting hot... (like the fact that CDs
would come out of the CD rom drive quite warm - this alerted me to the whole
problem in the first place!)

alex<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: overheating hard disk 

V-man wrote:
 > Alex Hunsley <lard DeleteThis @tardis.ed.ac.molar.uk> wrote in message news:<10cb3315h22a802 DeleteThis @corp.supernews.com>...
 >
  >>Things in my PC have been getting very hot (e.g. har disks and even CDs in the
  >>CD drive!). Am I correct in thinking that when things overheat it's generally
  >>the case that the PSU on my PC is not shifting enough air out of the back for
  >>whatever reason? The CPU fan is fine and wouldn't have much to do with the HD
  >>anyway....
  >>thanks
  >>alex
 >
 >
 > It depends on the ambient temperature quite a bit. A few degress less
 > in room tempature can make a big difference.
 >

Now that you mention it, the HD is about 6 months old, so I got it in winter,
when it was cooler... it may be that summer has tipped the temperature over the
edge of acceptabaility, hence the overheating problems!

alex<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: overheating hard disk 

On Mon, 14 Jun 2004 10:53:47 +0100, Alex Hunsley
<lard.TakeThisOut@tardis.ed.ac.molar.uk> wrote:


 >
 >Interesting! I always thought the PSU *did* cool the case a bit.
 >
 >No, the person who told me this was an engineer at the shop who sold me the
 >PSU; when I took it back thinking it was faulty because my HD was getting very
 >hot, he said this.


LOL. The only fan in my old 486 was the ps fan. Didn't even have a
heat sink on the cpu


 >
   >>>I'm just mystified as to why my hard disks are getting so hot. I've put in
   >>>a new HD and it also is getting very hot. (It got to 60 degrees C in about
   >>>an hour or less of the pc being on!) Could it be something to do with the
   >>>power being suplpied to the HD being incorrect somehow (but still within
   >>>the limits of what the HD can use, but causing overheating?)
  >>
  >>
  >> Are the disks in the airflow path?
 >
 >Not sure exactly what you mean by "airflow path": the HD is in the usual place
 >in an ATX case, and the case is closed. (There is only one HD now: a Maxtor
 >200gb 7200 rpm SATA V drive)



Usually there are holes in the case in front of the 3.5 bays behind
the plastic front cover. If you have enough case fans blowing out,
and you tape up all the excess vents, you can get some decent airflow
over the hard drives sometimes. Some people punch out bigger holes
there too.



 >
 >A new development: I've added a new fan at the fan slot inside the front of
 >case, oriented so that it sucks cold air *into* the case.
 >The HD heats up more slowly now, but still reaches 60+ centigrade eventually.
 >(after an hour and a bit).


Better to move your hard drive to a five inch bay with those 3.5-5
adapter rails and mount a fan below it blowing up to cool the bottom
of the hard drive. You can order fans on 5" installation frames for
this cheap. Check out the case mod retail websites.

That should take care of the hd problem.

 >
 >Do you know what is considered the maximum safe temp. for HDs before you risk
 >reduced lifetime and failure?


Should be a thermal spec at each mfg's website.

I was looking for info the other day and found this pdf, but it's for
some Western Digital SCSI drives using SMART technology. Gives you an
idea of what they're worried about. Looks like 60-65C is the warning
area for that particular drive.

Yeah, you should be concerned.


The new thermal monitoring feature has been implemented in the WD
Enterprise WDE18300 and WDE9180 Ultra2 SCSI hard drives. This new
technology focuses on system-level protection and monitors the
temperature of the drive, providing pertinent information to the host
and modifying drive behavior as needed to protect the drive from
damage.

The first thermal threshold the customer threshold, is entirely
user-defined and programmable in Mode Page 0 (default value 60C).


A disable bit allows the customer to disable this specific threshold
in cases where other thermal monitoring notifications are desired but
no customer threshold is set. When this threshold is crossed, the
drive returns a 01/0B/01 error code (Warning–Specified Temperature
Exceeded). This threshold can provide a warning before the temperature
becomes critical. The results can indicate an event to be logged, user
intervention requested, or supplemental ventilation required.


The second thermal threshold the shutdown threshold, is not
programmable by the customer. (Figure 2 compares both thresholds the
customer and the shutdown.) This threshold is set at 65C, the
temperature at which the drive should be shut down to prevent
damage or reduced service life.


Upon reaching this threshold, the drive returns a 01/0B/80
error code (Vendor Unique: Warning–Drive should be shutdown due to
over-temperature condition). On the first temperature reading over the
shutdown threshold, the thermal polling interval is set to read the
temperature again in three minutes. If the temperature is still over
the threshold and spin down is enabled in page 0 by the Enable Thermal
Spin-down (ETS) bit, the motor is spun down. A Start Unit command is
required to spin up the drive again.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: overheating hard disk