Hard Disk Recommendations

Okay, so my dv2500t came custom built with a Hitachi Travelstar 5K160 - a 5400rpm 160GB hard disk. The drive runs pretty toasty and unfortunately, because it sits under the left palm rest, the heat radiates up and makes my hand sweat.

I'm looking to replace it because I'm frankly trying to make my system snappier. The upgrade to 4GB of RAM definitely helped, but I'm not done.

I'd initially replaced it with a Travelstar 7K200 - a 7200rpm 200GB hard disk - but that drive was peaking at almost 56C after having Vista installed on it followed by SP1.

So I figured the Western Digital Scorpio 320GB 5400rpm drive was a good replacement choice. The increased platter density improves performance to near 7200rpm speeds, yet the temperatures should stay down. Unfortunately, it still runs close to as hot as the drive it's replacing, I don't honestly need all that capacity, and it's not that much faster than the drive the machine came with.

What's really great is when I put the old drive back in, its temperatures wound up getting close to the 7K200's were.

I'm going insane. I need something that runs both cooler and faster than the Hitachi my laptop came with but I don't feel like wasting money either.

Suggestions? Advice?

 

My old dv2000 had a (s)Hitachi on it, It went up to 55c EASILY.

My new dv2500SE comes wtih a 250gb WD scorpio. with my laptop cooler i can get up to 36c idle and 43max. Without cooler i get up to 47c

I can still kinda notice abit of heat on the palm rest though, but i kinda expected this since it just the HD is only a few mm beneath. Its not as bad as the hitachi's heat though

Hope it helps..

 

It looks as if the design of the dv2500 is one which keeps the HDD warm (I remember the Asus W3 was like this). MobileMeter is reporting the temperature of the WD2500BEVS in my Samsung X60 plus as 32C after running for about 1.5 hours.

Samsung and Fujitsu make HDDs which have below-average power consumption. X-bit labs has a comparison between five 250GB HDDs and includes power measurement. The Tom's hardware charts also include power consumption. This shows the 5k160 to have below-average power consumption!

John

 

Pulp, It is hard to determine what to do in your case.

You obviously need a harddrive which uses less power. The less power draw, the less heat.
From what I hear Samsung laptop harddrives run cooler than the rest.

According to Toms Hardware charts, the 7K200 should have run much cooler than your 320Gb western digital harddrive.
http://www23.tomshardware.com/storage25.html?modelx=33&model1=1100&model2=993&chart=157

Your 5K160 has a maximum power draw of 2.4 watts, which is rather low.
Actually, their is not a faster harddrive which uses less power than your 5K160.

I know in my lenovo T61, I have the 5K160, and it runs about 4-5C warmer than the 5400.3 seagate 160gb drive in my dell.

K-TRON

 

Pulp,

As John suggested, I have pretty much the same problem as you do to poor internal air flow. All vents are brand new and makes no difference if bottom drive tray is removed before anyone suggest cleaning vents.

AFAIK, the only ventilation occurs when GPU fan is running which in my laptop, occurs 5 minutes after a cold boot.

Both drives average around 45-48C. When pushed, one recorded as high as 58C using Everest after a long format on second drive. WD posts 60C max on theses drives, I think the Hitachi was 55C.

Since Gateway support is near worthless in theses matters, I monitor Smart codes and keep ceiling fan running during heavy use.

Drive #1 - WDC WD2500BEVS-22UST (232 GB)
Drive #2 - WDC WD2500BEVS-22UST (232 GB)

I have 3 year warranty on both drives so will just have to see how they will hold up.

 

Actually, I think it is less a matter of airflow (although that obviously helps) and more of having other heat-generating components near to the HDD. That 32C I reported earlier has risen to 33C after 9 hours operation, but the HDD on this computer is in an unventilated compartment under the right palm rest with no electronics above or below and the CPU / heat sink is at the back left.

The hottest HDD I had was on a Dell Inspiron 8000 where the HDD was almost above the CPU and was regularly over 60C. People said that the SMART data weren't being read properly but when I moved the HDD to another notebook the temperature dropped to less than 50C.

John

 

The only time I see low thirties is after a cold boot ,in a 22C room. At least in my southern neck of the woods..

These drives are the same as in the WD Passport. They would run all day in closed plastic case that would get warm but unable to read sensor.

So good point, but not sure as to what could be heating the drives up. RAM, is only warm component forward of drive bay but not as warm as drive bays.

Only one other uses has responded to to drive temperature question, in which he claimed far less temperatures. I'm going to post to other GW users to post their temps when time permits.

Until, I get a handle on this, the ceiling fan stays on

 

Its the design of the DV series makes the HDD hot. If you dissemble it you will see that the chipset heat goes right up into the HDD bay. All HDD will get hot in the DV series.