My new mSata SSD get quite hot

I have bought an Crucial M500 SSD for my Lenovo Y500. The normal operating temperature is between 50 and 60 degrees celsius(around 130-140 fahrenheit). This seems a bit too hot for a ssd doesn't it? I can even feel the heat if i rest my hand on the lelft down corner of the lappie.

Should i be concerned?

 

The cut off temps for the M500 (and most newer gen SSD's too as far as I've seen) is 70 C.

While this may be 'normal' - it is way too hot for me for a mobile device - especially when a spinning disk with 1TB storage and 7200RPM idles at around 30 C.


This is one reason why I don't use the Crucial M500's in my notebooks (I want the limited mobile thermal headroom to be available for the cpu - where the performance is immediately felt if it is throttled and not by the storage sub-system, where productivity is hardly affected - even if the SSD does throttle for one reason or another).

Hope this helps.


Good luck.

 

So the idle temps i am getting is normal for the SSD i have, but extra heat inside a laptop is never good?

 

Is that the SSD temperature or some other component?

Run HWiNFO, enable Sensors and check the SSD temperature. It should be listed under S.M.A.R.T.

John

 

Yes it is actually the SSD. See screenshot:

 

That is surprisingly hot. Is it in a hot area of the computer or is it the SSD itself running hot?

Perhaps one test would be to run a storage benchmark (eg Crystal DiskMark) and see the effect that has on the temperature both of the mSATA SSD and the other components. I've just done some tests on my computer and the write parts of the CDM sequential and 512k tests should reveal what is happening. They exercise the SSD but don't load the CPU.

John

 

Wow the max temp during crystal diskmark was 69 degrees celsius. At that point it probably throttled down.

j

This really doesn't seem right?

 

All those storage devices are getting hotter than the CPU. Did you happen to see the GPU temperatures in case that is a source of heat?

However, I wonder whether the monitoring data is getting muddled up. Isn't the WD Elements an external device which shouldn't get very hot? It's strange to see it having exactly the same temperatures as the Crucial M500. The Seagate HDD is also reported to have reached 69C, which is probably outside its rated operating temperature range. It should be possible to get a second opinion on the Seagate temperatures using the Seagate Seatools to read its SMART data.

It is also possible that the programs aren't reading the Crucial or WD SMART data correctly. One check would be to look at the temperatures of those devices immediately after start-up. In your screen dump both those devices have a minimum temperature of 51C whereas the Seagate started with a cool 29C.

John

 

Hi John,

I didn't notice at first that all three storage devices have same max and current temp. I can say that it's definetely hwmonitor showing incorrect data for the two hdd's(WD and Seagate). Other monitoring tools show very normal temps for the two hdd's and exact same temps for the ssd as hwmonitor. The temp of the ssd is after startup around 40-45 degrees celsius. After an hour of normal usage it's around 55 degrees celsius. And during benchmark it gets as hot as 69 degrees celsius and probably throttles because the max temp of the ssd according to crucial is 70 degrees celsius. The gpu temp was around 34 degrees celsius, so that couldn't be a problem.

It is definetely only the Crucial SSD heating up so much. According to Crucial 55 degrees celsius is normal operating temp for the M500, but getting 69 degrees celsius and throttling after just 2 minutes of benchmark with crystaldiskmark didn't really make a good impression on me.

 

Have you tried using the SSD in another machine? From the way it looks, either your computer has poor thermal management in and around the SSD or the SSD itself is bad and should be replaced.

 

Did you check that you are running the latest firmware?

I see that Crucial make the automatic throttling a feature of the M500 family. Normally, the mSATA SSDs are reasonably frugal with power but, if the M500 mSATA is basically the same hardware as the 2.5" M500 (probably, since it has the same firmware) then Tom's Hardware have shown the 2.5" M500 is an above-average power consumer (and the maximum power increases with SSD size). So perhaps Crucial had to add the thermal management feature to avoid potential damage.

I've just run a quick test on the Samsung PM841 mSATA in my Samsung NP900X4C and repeated running of Crystal DiskMark will get the SSD temperature up to 60C. On idle the SSD temperature is below 40C. I would note that this SSD was installed in the computer with a piece of black tape on it. Perhaps that is to help with thermal dissipation.

John

 

I don't have another machine to test it with. But i contacted a guy who has the exact same laptop and ssd. His temperatuurs are exactly the same. Furthermore i contacte crucial and they say this is normal.

Apparently i have nothing to worry about. I guess i didn't really expect ssd's to get that hot.

 

They don't all get that hot: The Tom's Hardware charts here show a wide range of power consumption.

It seems that Crucial went off course somewhere with the M500, perhaps sacrificing low power to get some performance improvements (the 4kQD32 read is much better than the previous m4). I used the 256GB m4 mSATA for a year and never noticed any problems with heat or power consumption.

John

 

Hello,
a few minutes ago i built in my Samsung 1TB EVO mSATA Drive into my HP ZBook 15.

I was surprised because the drive was 40 Grad/degrees hot in idle!

The lowest temp was 37 Grad/degrees.

My HP built in Samsung 840pro SSD was only 27 Gad/degree hot.

But i'am very glad that my evo is not so hot like your crucial - that would make me really concern..

Dont know how hot the samsung drive will get under load.


But i goes hotter:
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/IdeaPa...ad-Y500-mSATA-SSD-is-getting-HOT/td-p/1341047

and here a Evo in a MSI notebook (german):
http://www.notebooksbilliger.de/forum/Notebooks/MSI/MSI+GE60+mit+mSata+SSD+Temperatur+zu+hoch

Edit: i copy 80,6GB from my 840 pro to the evo the temps raise to 61 Grad/degrees.

 

One possible factor is the location of the mSATA SSD in the notebook and whether it is near any hotter components that are indirectly increasing the temperature of this SSD. 40C is not particularly hot for the inside of a notebook. The main SSD, because it needs much more space, is probably located away from the mainboard and any hot components and therefore tends to be cooler.

Also, the main SSD has a metal case which probably helps dissipate the heat while the mSATA just has some chips tightly packed together on both sides of a thin board so heat dissipation may not be as effective. The Samsung NP900X4C has what I assume is a thermal pad on the SSD which probably helps to move some heat to the metal base of the computer. It's not shown on any of my photos because I wanted people to see the SSD.

John

 

M500 run HOT for some reason. 50-55 for both 256GB mSATA and 2.5". In a system with poor ventilation obviously higher. If you can easily access the mSATA just try to touch it while it's on and see how hot it feels or get a laser thermometer and check the surface temps and see if it's anywhere near 70C.

 

My m500 msata runs hot as well. Up to 70C during intensive gameplay, but I haven't noticed any performance issues yet. Anyway Crucial let me down this time, I used to be a big fan of their SSDs.

 

Thank god I didn't get the M500.. I was tempted to get it since it was cheap but this Scnadisk Extreme II is worth it.. never seen it reach 45 - 50C in my otherwise toasty Alienware

 

Ever since I installed a new hard drive in my second caddy bay. My SSD is running at 64C, not going higher or lower. The system feels cool to the touch though and my computer reseller said those temperatures are ok. So I guess once its in warranty, if anything happens, we are good for a replacement.

Otherwise, I've noticed no performance issues or slowdowns.

 

I've recently installed a m500 Msata into my Alienware and its been running around the 65-70 mark,sometimes over when testing. Is this healthy? or should i remove the drive?

 

There are some other threads in this forum relating to hot mSATA SSDs. One common cause is proximity to heat generating components (particularly CPU / GPU).

How close is your SSD to any hot components?

What is the mSATA SSD idle temperature when the rest of the system is also idle?

What are the CPU, GPU and board temperatures when you are testing the SSD?

John