High hdd temps, even with ventilation

dshay · Post by **dshay** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 2:33 pm

I recently purchased a Zalman HD-160 case and 3 of the Western Digital WD5000AAKS SATA drives to put in it, based on their "low temperature" and "low noise". They are fine from a noise stand point, but when I first put them in this case, two of the drives hit 50C and one hit 52C. This is with ambient room temperature of around 25C. I believe these temperature readings to be accurate based on touch, as well.

This seemed too hot, and based on the other articles in this forum, this does indeed seem to be the case. Other reviews of this case indicated hdd temp's of 31C, so this didn't seem right either.

This case does have an option for putting a fan underneath the 3-bay hard drive unit. I installed one there, and that helped some. On it's 5V setting, the temperatures got reduced some, down to around 44-46C. On its 12V setting, it sounds like a small jet engine, but temperatures drop slightly more to around 40-42C, but then this really defeats the whole quiet HTPC thing.

What could be the causes of such high temps? Doesn't seem like an individual drive problem, since it's all 3 drives. In the mounting cage, I have used the rubber grommets. Should I remove those so that I get more metal-to-metal case contact to dissipate heat better? Could this be some sort of grounding or other electrical problem? I am using a high-quality Zalman power supply as well, and have no other power-supply problem symptoms.

HELP!

Das_Saunamies · Post by **Das_Saunamies** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 3:12 pm

The case has poor airflow and little HDD cooling, end of story. The current temperatures in the mid-to-high 40s are nothing shameful, pretty standard fare in such cases I'd imagine. More metal-to-metal contact might spell more dissipation, but the grommets are there for a good reason; I'd say the possible trade-off is not worth it.

I'd recommend leaving the fan in at 5V or so, and not getting too stressed about it. HDDs can take that thermal stress pretty well. What I'm curious about is why you have 3 HDDs when 2 would've been acceptable in most HTPC scenarios?

PS. If it was an electrical problem you'd have a whole lot more trouble...

smc · Post by **smc** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 4:29 pm

dshay wrote:What could be the causes of such high temps?

Simple, those three hard drives are too close together, as in most cases in the market. Remove the middle one and see your temperatures drop to the expected level.

Unless there is unimpeded forced airflow with a clear exhaust path (in the HD-160, the HD mounting platform is seriously impeding airflow from the bottom-mounted fan, and the hot air has nowhere to go), I wouldn't put more than two HD's in that space.

44-46C is borderline, 50 is detrimental to HD longevity. I wouldn't want any of my drives over 40C. In my old Lian Li the HD fans would get connected in the summer... In my current Silverstone LC17, the two elastic-suspended Samsungs report ambient temperature + 10C without a dedicated cooling fan. I did have to make a custom frame for the elastics out of L-brackets, which accomodates two drives in a space Silverstone deems suitable for three.

Aris · Post by **Aris** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 6:55 pm

anything under 55c (which is what most manufactueres set their HD thermal limits to) is fine. You only have to worry once you break the thermal threashold set by your specific drives manufactuerer. While those temps are high, if they are stable then they are acceptable.

Also your ambient temp is a bit high. I usually have my A/C set to 20c (70f).

jaldridge6 · Post by **jaldridge6** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 9:07 pm

44-46C is no biggie with a 3 drive setup all close to one another like you have them. Keep the fan at 5V.

Das_Saunamies · Post by **Das_Saunamies** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 4:49 am

Google study says anything below 60 is irrelevant blah blah blah... as long as it's steady below a manufacturer's set limitations, you should be safe. Accepted and common temperatures are around the 40-50 range.

Also note: what is this air conditioning you speak of...

It seems to be common in the US, but over here for example it's pretty rare.

dshay · Post by **dshay** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 7:02 am

smc wrote:
dshay wrote:What could be the causes of such high temps?
Simple, those three hard drives are too close together, as in most cases in the market. Remove the middle one and see your temperatures drop to the expected level.

Unless there is unimpeded forced airflow with a clear exhaust path (in the HD-160, the HD mounting platform is seriously impeding airflow from the bottom-mounted fan, and the hot air has nowhere to go), I wouldn't put more than two HD's in that space.
.

OK. I took out the middle drive and moved it to the fourth bay above the optical drive. I now have 37-38C for the 2 in the ventilated bay with the 5V fan and 42C for the one above the optical bay. Much improved, and I think I'm just going to stick with this solution.

Great community here! Thanks for all of your input!

Twigathy · Post by **Twigathy** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 8:40 am

I've noticed that hard drive temperature sensors really are not too accurate and ought to be taken with a pinch of salt....:

doom@polaris:~$ ./hddtemp.sh
/dev/hdc: WDC WD2000BB-00GUC0: 33Â°C
/dev/sda: WDC WD5000AAKS-22TMA0: 36Â°C
/dev/sdb: WDC WD2000JS-00MHB0: 52Â°C
/dev/sdc: WDC WD2000JS-00MHB0: 50Â°C
/dev/sdd: WDC WD2000JD-00HBC0: 29Â°C
/dev/sde: WDC WD2000JS-00MHB0: 54Â°

Note that the 4 200GB drives (the JS' and JD) are all in the P180's 4 drive cage thing sat on the bottom of a random junk PC (It's a fileserver). The AAKS is in a normal drive bay, about halfway up the case and the BB (200GB) is towards the top of the case. Only the 4 at the bottom have a fan next to them (The bottom fan from the P180) and yet them temps reported on those 4 drives varies quite a bit...

Das_Saunamies · Post by **Das_Saunamies** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 12:19 am

Twigathy wrote:I've noticed that hard drive temperature sensors really are not too accurate and ought to be taken with a pinch of salt....:

doom@polaris:~$ ./hddtemp.sh
/dev/hdc: WDC WD2000BB-00GUC0: 33Â°C
/dev/sda: WDC WD5000AAKS-22TMA0: 36Â°C
/dev/sdb: WDC WD2000JS-00MHB0: 52Â°C
/dev/sdc: WDC WD2000JS-00MHB0: 50Â°C
/dev/sdd: WDC WD2000JD-00HBC0: 29Â°C
/dev/sde: WDC WD2000JS-00MHB0: 54Â°

Note that the 4 200GB drives (the JS' and JD) are all in the P180's 4 drive cage thing sat on the bottom of a random junk PC (It's a fileserver). The AAKS is in a normal drive bay, about halfway up the case and the BB (200GB) is towards the top of the case. Only the 4 at the bottom have a fan next to them (The bottom fan from the P180) and yet them temps reported on those 4 drives varies quite a bit...

I disagree. In the JS/JD crowd there's a single odd man out, which implies individual failure. Either the measuring is broken or it's sitting on an ice cube... I'd personally bet on the former, although since it's of different make than the other 3 it could well be cooler. Is it by chance near the edge and not sandwiched in the middle?

BB and AAKS seem to be getting good cooling, or are cool drives to begin with.

Measurements are not absolute truths about total temperature, but the received signal a single thermal probe is transmitting. They are, however, accurate and true by themselves.

High hdd temps, even with ventilation

High hdd temps, even with ventilation

Re: High hdd temps, even with ventilation

Re: High hdd temps, even with ventilation