critical hard disk temperature-70c

my laptop, hp pavillion g60-120us has been slowing down and crashing lately, so i ran hd tune to check it's temperature and found out it's running at around 62c with several programs running - firefox with multiple tabs, majic jack, hd tune, and the usual security-antiivirus and spyware.

when i first turn the laptop on, it starts at around 40c and quickly goes up to the 60's within 20-30 minutes.

when i run a scan of antivirus or ultimate defrag it tops out at around 70c.

the hd tuner hits critical hard disk temperature at 55c and pop ups a message every few seconds.

i've also run speedfan, and it tells me the same temperature.

is it normal for a laptop to run a temperature in the high 60's...should i put it on a block of dry ice, or move to the north pole?

 

nah try removing dust from where the fans are located. If you want, keep it plugged in so its grounded (assuming your plug has a grounding wire, use a high powered vacuum like a wet/dry vac, and hold it up against the inlet then the outlet of the fans, it should suck out some dust and any potential static won' damage your laptop. Or you can take it apart and clean it.

 

Most HDDs are have an operating temp of 55. Beyond that, damage is very likely. For that matter, running temps in the low 50s is considered unhealthy.

 

That's way too high. Most manufacturer's temp range go up to 55-60C max for operating temp. I thought mine ran hot (hits 50-55C under a load), but yours is way too high at 70C. What you can do is check if anything is blocking the air flow of the hard drive compartment, and also check if the hard drive's openings are being blocked as well (there's warning on it that say don't block this hole, etc). If all of those check out, try a clean install, you might have something in the background constantly accessing the hard drive causing a constant spike. Also try to lift the laptop using sticky notes or something to increase ventilation, that may help. If all fails, get a new hard drive either through warranty or buy a new one. Someone else might be able to provide more detail regarding hard drives.

 

when you first turn on your notebook after being off all night the hdd temperature on boot into windows should not be much higher than the room temperature , if it is a lot higher it could be a faulty temperature sensor.

 

i think the majic jack an internet phone which i leave on all the time was causing it to spike up in the 60's because after i exited the program, it now runs around 55c which is still high but better than before.

the heat's definitely caused some damage to my laptop maybe not internally-passed disk check for errors, but cosmetically - a thin plastic strip around the keyboard has become slightly warped.

i checked the grids and airways and they are clean and free of dust

i guess, i should note that i did drop the laptop once which broke off something inside which may be effecting the temp... i'm guessing a tab because i can hear it rattling around when i shake it.

also, the laptop used to run so quietly, but now it's really loud because of the fan which seems to kick in only after a few minutes.

but, i think i'm going to do a clean install of windows 7 and get rid of vista, and maybe that'll help...i've got so much junk on my computer now.

 

The junk in your computer surely has to do with the fan running all the time. Anything making CPU activity will of course generate heat which promptly starts up the fan.