What is the safest maximum hard drive temperature for a 3.5" desktop drive?

Like I said, how high can you go?

 

Won't there be a label on the HD itself or its packaging stating the HD's maximum operating temp?

 

Wrong forum?

 

Yeah, but that only lists the temperature outside of the drive that is appropriate. I'm concerned about internal.

Well, it is hardware...but it is desktop hardware too. This is an external drive for a lappy I'm talking about though.

 

OK fine! What Hard Drive! I need specs!

 

Generally under 50C would be ok..

Max about 55C..

 

Uh oh...thanks! Now I need a cooler (running at 51C).

 

Just install a low rpm fan..It will do the job..

My hard disks are being cooled by a 120 1200rpm fan and they never exceed room temperature by 3-4C..

 

Low RPM fan in an external drive :\

 

Oh,thought it's internal...

 

why is your external drive getting so hot?

move it out of the oven.

my internal hard drive gets like 40 tops. its sitting right next to a bunch of hot components...

you don't want a lot of heat on your hard drive because that is the first part that is going to fail. and it sucks when it does.

 

Two external drives, and they are stacked together. Generally, they are high 30s and low 40s, but if there is sustained data transfer there is a heat build up.

I may have to build an enclosure for the enclosure to get a fan in there...

Argh, I don't wanna buy it but I may have to:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817387029

 

The MTBF of a hard drive is HALVED when operating (internally) at 50C vs. 40C. Doesn't matter if it's a 5.25" 3.5", 2.5", or 1.8" drive.

If you're running at 51C, you need some kind of cooling device or fans or something. (and regular backups of your data).

That's why I went with a laptop that can hold two drives. I have my pair of Hitachi 7k200's mirrored in a RAID1. Laptop HDD's have little to no air flow and run rather warm. That's why they typically die quicker than a desktop hdd. With RAID1, I can lose either drive without losing any data.

My external disk, also a RAID1 mirror, is a pair of 500GB Seagate 7200.10 drives in the AMC Venus DS3R Firewire RAID enclosure. It has a 60mm cooling fan and the drives never exceed 35C, even under load. The DS3R was $139, but since it holds two drives, has a fan, and hardware RAID option, it's a great price compared to buying 2x single-drive enclosures.

 

I believe it when you say high temps can do that...I'm a little worried about it.

During boot, the drive is around 25C but it will jump to 50-52C with hours of sustained activity. Cool downs take a while too.

Hardware RAID is nice and all, but I'm still not a fan of it (what if the card dies and you cannot replace it!). I'd actually prefer software based RAID, as software would always be around (not to mention I write software...). Something like SyncToy running once every 24 hours would suffice.

When the money is a little better, I'm gonna pick up another 320GB drive for some kind of RAID, but as of right now that external is only for backups anyway so as long as that drive doesn't die the same day my laptop's does...

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817387029

Any one seen/used these?

Also, I decided to un-stack the drives and place them vertically and a few inches apart...shaved 4C off of my max temp too! Down to 47C, most of the time at high 30s though...

 

What about this guys? Any comments about the company?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817707092