HDD temperature

Hi guys,
I don't know if this has been discussed earlier, but the search i did, didn't reveal much. My Hitachi 100 GB 7200, is heating up to 57C. I haven't been doing any drive intensive work, just light internet surfing. My hard drive access LED wasn't flashing continously either. Do you know if this is normal?

 

That is hot! I have hitachi 131F is the top yours is 134! I don't have time to check yours but HOT! Which one you got? Still to HOT! Yes HDD temp's Discussed B/4!

 

That is very hot as noted. It is not good for hard drives to go over 55*C, that is their maximum rated operating temperature.

If you keep running the drive at that high temperature you could reduce its lifespan. I suggest getting a notebook cooler - check the cooling guide as well as one of the many threads started in the Accessories forum about coolers. There are many good ones out there

 

The design of individual notebooks can make a substantial difference to the normal HDD temperature.

However, the Hitachi 7K100 is top of the table on maximum power consumption and, if yours is the SATA version, then close to the top on idle power consumption.

You may want to consider upgrading within a few months to a newer and bigger HDD and relegate the present HDD to backup. Anything you get (either 7200 or 5400rpm) will have a lower power draw and therefore generate less heat.

John

 

I also have a Hitachi 7k100 in my Dell Latitude D620, the hard drive is right below my left palm and gets very warm, I don't know the exact temperature

I am looking to change out this drive and the new hitachi 5k250 is supposed to have similar performance to my 7k100 with much less power consumed

But I would rather have the performance of the new 7k200

My question is: when I look at these HD models, they come in two SATA configurations, SATA 3 gb/sec & SATA 1.5 gb/sec and I don't know what my computer uses.

Any help would be appreciated.

Jay

 

I would tend to go for the SATA 150. That is still much faster than your HDD can stream data and there is less risk of compatibility problems with your computer (the existing HDD is most probably SATA 150).

I'm using (in my Samsung X60 plus) the WD2500BEVS which I know works fine with the Intel 845M chipset and I'm impressed by how cool it is running. It's under my right palm rest and normally runs at around 35C.

John

 

Yes, the 7k200 is awesome, I've got two and love them. Fastest notebook drive in the world.

The 7k100 gets hot because it's a power hog - 1.1A. 7k200 draws only 0.8A so it runs much cooler.

You want the SATA150 version, doesn't matter what your notebook is equipped with. ZERO performance difference between the two, but SATA300 draws a LOT more power to run the interface than SATA150 does. That means you'll have longer battery life with SATA150.

 

my desktop was consistently running at 60+ C. My old Compaq Presario laptop too heats up and its keyboard feels "hot" quite often. I believe the new Santa Rosa addresses these problems better.

 

As said, 55-60 is generally the highest a harddrive should go. As such you're probably (barely) ok, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to lower the temp 10-15 degrees.