FWIW my 40Gb 7200.7 is currently running 32C below a Fujitsu MPG that is reporting 30C. The drive temps vary more because of ambient than load (at least in my case).

I think your temps are towards the top end of OK, and still figure a rule of thumb "20C over ambient" max makes sense - see this thread.

my two Seagates 120GB 2MB IDE have 40 and 43ºC. Some time ago I had them at 50, is it really a problem?

Hello:

My 120GB 7200.7 PATA 2MB is 37c right now. CPU is 49C, and ambient is fairly warm -- pushing 80F on this early summer evening.

Erm, how are you guys measuring temps?

I have a thermisistor I can try, but I don't know where I'd stick it. Or is there a tool for montoring drive temps?

FWIW, the sides of my Seagate Barracuda V drives (120GB and 200GB) are almost scaldingly hot when I touch the sides. They aren't mounted in a drive cage, so that may have something to do with it.

aston, you can use Dtemp or MBM 5 to monitor the drive temps.

I'm in the process of building my new silent system (consisting of Nexus 3500 PSU and Zalman CNPS-7000A cooler, with no other fans).

Yesterday after running the PC for about 2 hours at about 15% CPU load and very little disk access, my temps were as follows:

Seagate ATA IV 80GB: 46 degrees C
Samsung 1604N 160GB: 39 degrees C

The Samsung is installed lower in the case, which might explain why it runs so much cooler. I'm thinking of attaching the currently unused Intel P4 heatsink on top of the Seagate, to see if that will keep it cool.

Btw, I'm very happy with the Zalman cooler. With the stock Intel cooler my CPU temp at load was about 68-70 degrees C, with the Zalman at 5v it is almost inaudible and the CPU runs at 58-60 degrees C. Very nice!

Pate

My Seagates always seem to run hotter than my old IBM Deskstar or WD drives. Typical temp is 49C or 50C, with no air conditioning running - ambient is around 30C. On the other hand, they do seem to survive. These temps are from reading the SMART data.

Slightly OT: I do wonder about how temps get measured. I would have thought that getting the temp from a probe is fine for comparing changes once you've attached the probe to a drive, but not at all suitable for comparing from one PC to another or even one drive to another:
- how do you know the probe on one PC is calibrated the same as a probe on another one?
- if the placement of the probe is different, won't the temps be different?
- even if the probe is in the same place, how sensitive is the reading to the way the probe is positioned and attached (if it's not very flat, for example)?

Has anyone tested this out? I'm just not sure that comparing temps is very meaningful unless there's a standard way of getting the temps.

40GB 7200.7 3.06, suspended in a 5.25" bay with pretty much no airflow around it, 41C.

I'll do my post on this thread instead of MikeC's as this is more current.

Life expectancy variation of any system due to temp changes would be better explained by WHAT sort of failure we're talking about. I've read posts about sticking drives in ovens, etc. Those are extreme temps. The life of any component will get short due to much lower heat rises and seem to fail for completely different reasons.

I'll be dipping into my 10+ year old material science classes here so feel free to correct me.

Major damage to components arise from what is called creep; ie impurities in main components that in time "walk" or "creep" along the component and eventually cause failure. Heat speeds up this process considerably.

When talking about chips, we're talking about material that is "grown" from a single crystal and is as pure as can be achieved. Because the base material is so pure, creep-inducing impurities are extremely minimal; ie even if you turn up the heat nothing happens. That's why we can comfortably run a CPU @ say 65C for a LONG time and expect reliable service.

When talking about a electromechanical component like a hard drive, things get complicated. A drive has many different components, nearly all of them manufactured from different composites, and none of them really pure. Heat will affect each creep differently. So it'll be a tossup as to which component will fail due to creep first. No wonder noone can cite heatbased failures with any degree of certainty. Add to that the already cited reasons for wiring, insulation, bearing oil, etc, you just have way too many variables. Besides when the drive does fail due to heat-accelerated creep, it'll be mechanical in nature and none of us will attribute it to the fact that we ran the thing at 65C nonstop for 2-3 years.

Coming to Seagate temps, I think we all agree that Seagate disks run a bit hotter than others. Now, Seagate has always (for the last 10 years or so) left me with the image of a company who worries more on reliability and service life than performance or specs. Therefore, I'd expect them to have DESIGNED their drives for a higher heat tolerance.

Personally, considering how long I keep my drives, I worry more about heat dumped into the case by the disk than the health of the disk. My disks (120 GB Sata) run around 40-42C idle with 26C ambient. I would feel comfortable all the way up to 50C as I expect I'll be replacing my drives way before heat induced problems start cropping up. Anything above 50C, I'd worry about the circuitry acting up (data anomalies) before I worry about the safety of the disk.

i have 2 seagate cuda 7200.7's, both 120gb sata.

both are at 38c now, ambient = 18c.

I'm not too familiar with MBM, but DTemp and SpeedFan both read the SMART data from the HDD, so it's not surprising they would show the same thing. I do believe that SMART readings are more consistent; my concern is more around temps measured by probes.

In mbm which sensor is for the Seagate 120GB 8MB?

/Edit

I checked my Seagate 120GB 8MB ATA temp with HDD Thermometer

Idle 30 c (it's right in the path of an intake fan)
32 c after 30min of defrag

FYI
External temp 24
Case 27
CPU 39

/Edit bis

Finally found out how to see the HD temp in mbm

In Settings, General/Basic
Scroll down and tick scan for HD

Reboot and the HD sensor will now be listed

et voila

160GB in my main computer: 36-40'C

120GB 'V in HTPC, very little airflow: 41-43'C

Seagate 7200.7 120GB SATA in a 3700BQE
stock exhaust fan @ 12v
no intake fan, no mod or whatsoever

case temp 30
HD idle 35

I've a 8Mb PATA 120Gb Seagate @ 38C
also 8Mb PATA 120Gb Hitachi @36C

case temp 35C (been on for 12 hours now)
ambient 30C

Seagate SATA 7200.7

MBM reports-

Top 120GB 37
Bottom 120GB 37

They are washer mounted in front of my intake fan. No clue what the room temp is at. Hawaii - windows open good airflow - AC off - parlty cloudy outside. Maybe 75 F.

40ish is fine. Nothing to be really worried about. I have a Seagate IV 8 MB 80 GB lying 2 spots above a 200 GB Maxtor Ultra (both PATA) in the front of my SLK3700BQE with a fan in front... records high/low being 21C - 35 C. So 40 is fine. My case temperature ranges from 24-43 C. So yah, dont worry about it. Just may wanna check up on your airflow...

Thanks for the tip on how to measure my HD's temp. I just tried it out... and I was shocked to see that my HD temps were in the mid 50's. Guess putting the drives (and the entire computer) inside my TV stand/cabinet isn't such a great idea. This might also be the cause of my data corruption problems.

I stuck a 80mm Papst fan in front of the drives and now they're a much more respectable 29C and 36C.

(I don't have a case, but I do have the drives inside a spare drive cage. Top drive is hotter than the bottom one.)

Seagate 7200.7 120GB 2MB P-ATA

D-Temp reports 38C while MBM says the case-temp is 26C, it's mounted in aMolex Silentdrive without any kind of cooling.

40-46 Celcius (depending on ambient temps) 120GB Seagate 7200.7 (2 MB Cache) in a SmartDrive2002. Only fans are 2 80mm Panaflo L1A's @7volts. None are blowing directly on the drive housing.

-Ed

Well, this is odd. Its a Seagate 120Gb 8mb PATA, Its not freezing here mabye 10-13 degrees here on a pretty cold night, and at the moment im getting 26 degrees with no active cooling aside from the drive being in the path of the intake on a 3700AMB with no front fan and mounted on the standard rubber grommets. Luckey me?

Seagate 160 IDE - 42
Seagate 160 SATA - 49

BUT....these are on a warm day with light use & no case fan. IN the summer & during heavy use they make get a lot higher. At what level do I have to worry and get a case fan to drop in?

Thanks!

Seagate 120GB Barracuda ATA 7200.7: 34 degrees celcius
Seagate 60GB Barracuda ATA V: 34 degrees celcius
Case: 30 degrees celcius

Not a seagate, but for what it's worth (I was actually curious, since I haven't checked this in a while) my SmartDrive2002'ed Maxtor 200gb is at 55c according to dtemp.

It's in the typically crappy airflow location, under the DVD-R in the 5.25" bays.

And no, I don't give a damn.