Coolest running hard drive available?

Decent capacity SSDs (128GB+) are too pricey for me still. What is currently the coolest running hard drive for notebooks?

 

The coolest running drives are going to be 5400rpm mechanical HDDs, like a Western Digital Scorpio Blue. That drive was measured at an idle temp of 30C. Your mileage may vary. The actual HDD temps that you get will depend on your notebook design and cooling. But the WD Scorpio Blue is a good starting point.

Also be aware that 5400rpm drives have pretty ratty performance. Unless you're using that drive as just bulk storage for media, or unless lower temperatures are THAT important to you that you'd sacrifice a nice chunk of performance, I wouldn't buy one.

 

Technology has improved to the point where 7200 RPM drives with much better performance operate at temperatures only slightly higher than 5400 RPM drives. The 7200 RPM Seagate drive in my machine idles only a couple degrees higher than that Scorpio Blue.

 

My Scorpio Blue 640 GB runs like 29C idle (23C ambient) and is silent. The performance isn't the best but that is to be expected.

Coolest running hard drive will also depend on your notebook's design, where the drive is located.

 

Temperature of Disk Drive is related power consumption, find the lowest power consuming HD and you have arrived, WD claims to be cooler than any drive.

Reviews & Ratings for Western Digital 320GB WD Caviar Blue SATA Internal Hard Drive - 8MB Cache WD3200AAJS

Cheers
3Fees

 

Err..that link you posted was for a Caviar Blue which is a desktop drive..

Anyways these days a 7200 rpm drive is only slightly hotter than a 5400 rpm drive, my Seagate MomentusXT 500 GB is like ~32C idle (23C ambient) so only slightly hotter.

 

Absolutely correct. A 7200rpm 2.5" SATA notebook drive is only going to be slightly hotter than a 5400rpm 2.5" SATA notebook drive, and give you significant performance benefits. If you care about performance, get a 7200rpm drive or a hybrid drive like the Seagate Momentus XT.

But to answer the specific question that the OP asked... a 5400rpm 2.5" drive like the Western Digital Scorpio Blue is technically the coolest notebook drive you can buy.

 

as said 7200rpm drives are a lot better these days
i had 2 in my old HP laptop and temps where barely up on the 5400 drives

 

I would recommend a 5400rpm drive (even with the slight drop in performance) because the 7200rpm drives are just annoying with how much vibration they have. 5400rpm isn't THAT much slower, but there is a noticeable difference.

I have only used Hitachi hdd's in my (previous) notebook that used 2.5" hdd's, so I can't comment on the WD drives; but the 5400rpm drive was much nicer running than the 7200rpm one, quieter, cooler running, much less vibration, good speeds (I was using the Hitachi 5K500, and the 7K500). I don't think it is only Hitachi that is that way, but it could be.

 

You not only have to keep in mind how cool it runs at idle, but also how cool it runs under load.

If you're just letting the HDD sit there and want a cool system, then a 5400RPM drive is the right fit.

If you're expecting to get some work out of the system, then the 7200 RPM drive will not only be 40-60% faster (500GB Scorpio Blue vs. Hitachi 7K500), but will also be barely warmer.

Simply put:
If you're working the 5400 RPM drive flat out; it will run hotter than a much faster 7200 RPM drive that can 'breathe' in-between your disk drive requests.

So? Do you want 'technically' cool? Or do you want 'real world' cool?

Good luck.

 

must be the way the hdd`s are held in your laptop then
as both my 7200 hdd`s add no extra noise or vibration in my HP or my Acer

 

Ah, you are right; the way in which your hdd mounts into the notebook does make a pretty large difference in terms of vibration/ noise.

The computer I was referring to using had the hdd hard mounted (chassis metal to hdd metal), so the vibrations were not only felt, but amplified. I have since put both of those Hitachi drives in external cases, and the 5K500 is still quieter, has less vibration, and cooler running (considerably cooler running).


Any hard drive will be a compromise between speed, heat, noise, and vibration (the last two depend on how your computer mounts the hard drive. ie: if it is metal to metal, or if the hdd has rubber "bumpers" on it), so you have to choose which are THE most important.