HDD temperature question

[chenw]

Hey all,

recently bought myself a Toshiba MD04ACA600, and I currently have it installed in a SATA to USB dock as an external drive.

I also have Toshiba DT01ACA300 and a HGST HDN724030ALE640 3TB drives in my case.

Since I bought the 6TB drive as a storage drive, I copied some data onto it (400GB to start with), it was then I realised that the drive, despite not enclosed in a case, was running at 55C, which, according to Toshiba's website:

http://toshiba.semicon-storage.com/us/product/storage-products/client-hdd/md04acaxxx.html

It's at the very top of the range. The drive idles at 44C, according to the SMART report I got from CrystalDiskInfo. The other two drives, for the record, runs 38C.

Now, I was wondering, would I be better served to buy an external enclosure with a cooling fan installed, or would it be ok?

I don't plan to continuously read from or write to the drive, so it will probably several days of data transfer.

Thanks!

 

[smorizio]

you have a few option if you think the drive is cooking. one make sure there an air space. most error are putting drives metal back to back where they cook each other. if the case has front fans but there are none add one or two connect them to the mb so you can control there speed. if there no fans for the front of the case they do make fans for hard drive trays and bays. all you need is a little airflow over the drive. the other drives re cooler as there moving air over them. the issue with ext bays is at some point your going to kick it or nock it over. break power plug or kill the drive. and six g of lost data is a lot.

 

[chenw]

Oops, forgot to clarify.

The Toshiba Drive (MD04ACA600) that's currently running at 44C nominal / 55C Loaded is externalised (IE not inside my case), the temperatures of my internal drives are for comparative purposes only.

The drive is currently not leaning against anything, and there are no other HDD or similar heatsource nearby, not even my computer case, it's on the otherside of my desk.

 

[Solandri]

The better USB to SATA docks have a fan specifically to avoid this problem. HDDs don't need much cooling, but they do need some. Just get a small desk fan, set it to low, and point it at the drive in the dock while you're doing the heavy transfer - that should be enough.

 

[chenw]

I'll try that, thanks.

I also have the HDD standing up now, instead of lying flat I had before, the temp is a good bit lower under load now (45C), but gonna let the load run a little longer just to double check.

Also, one last question: which is better for the HDD, leaving the HDD powered on even after shutting down the computer, or switch it off when not in use?

 

[reedo_43]

Definitely switch it off if it does not automatically. Some do. Everything has a life span...