SATA HD very hot!

I purchased a Serial ATA Seagate 120GB Hard Drive as part of an upgrade to P4 2.8.

The drive mechanically failed after around 3 hours into the format and installation/configuration of XP. This doesn't look good as drives are often used in 24/7 installations in standard cases.

The drive was VERY warm, close to uncomfortably so when touched.

Do these new drives run very warm. They certainly appear to when compared to a standard ATA100 spinning at the same speed (7200 RPM)?

No I didn't have extra cooling (fans) in the case. It is standard as I'm not an avid overclocker. I'm not aware of any new requirements to have extra cooling in standard cases to support these newer drives. Certainly that's not evident on the Seagate site.

The drive was replaced and the seller didn't think that heat was a factor in the failure. The replacement drive runs hot as well. PSU voltages appear normal as reported by the M/B BIOS.

I've ordered a new case with extra fans (3) as a precautionary measure.

 

Hi Paul,

Have you got AIDA32? It gives you a HDD temperature reading under Storage>SMART.

The maximum operating temperature of Seagate SATA drives seems to be 60*C. If your drive is close to that I would start to be concerned. It also gives a "worst" figure (mine is 49*C, Seagate standard/parallel ATA 120gb).

My friend installed a top end video card in his machine and the temperatures started spiralling up...so yes, start checking your temps and installing more fans if needs be.

If it only seems to be the HDD itself that is running hot (as opposed to CPU and System temps, I would email Seagate support and try to find out why.

Could you find a place in the case where more air circulates around/past it?

Matt

 

Thanks Matt,
I'll install AIDA32.
I've ordered a new case that comes standard with two fans, side window and blower fan on the top of the case. I've also got another one for the front where the HD will be.

 

According to AIDA32 the drive hit 51 celcius with an average around 46. This is more of an idle temperature with a small amount of use after an hour or two. A bit close to the maximum permissible of 60C, as under heavy use it will climb considerably. Will be interesting to see the difference in the new case when it arrives possibly later today?

 

Installed into a new case with 3! fans. side fan, blower fan on top of case and one in front of the hard drives. Temperature of SATA HD is now sitting around 39 degrees Celsius after nearly 3 hours.
A bit noisy with a total of 6 fans in the case (incl North bridge, CPU and PSU) but she aint going to get too warm again.

Front LCD says she's 30.2 ambient temp in the case.

 

7 degrees is a good drop. Hope the noise doesn't effect you too much.


Matt