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I just installed Ashampoo HDD Control 2 and found that my three hard drives are 43 - 46 degrees Celcius, and that is too hot! What causes a HD to get too hot and how can I cool them down so they don't wear out any quicker than they have to?
Best regards,
Steven.
HD become hot because there are mecanic part inside who rotate at high speed... in extreme case at 15k rpm but usual is 7200 rpm...
For cool them down, you have mainly two way...
First, on the software side, you have utilities who "shut down" drive not used after some time... it add some latency when drive is needed but a stopped drive don't heat up... perfect solution for drive who are your data archive ( film, music, photo, book, etc )...
Second method is too have a good airflow around the drive... take a look at the pic at http://www.love-from-russia.be/comp.jpg ... it is my computer... more important is the case itself... at the lower right side, you have the HD bay ( 8 hot plug drives )... the electronic back plate is with holes who allow a airflow from the front via the HD to the row of fans ( the 4 green block )... a little detail, bind properly all your cables together... loose cable break the airflow... some gadget can be usefull, like the plastic thing who lead the airflow on my two processor and memory... the 4 fans are large one with low RPM... mean low noise for a lot of airflow... original processor fan was little with high RPM ( a lot of noise )...
If your computer case don't allow a good airflow and you don't wish to buy a new case ( my case is very good but cost over 300 euro !!! ), there is some various hard drive cooler that you can buy ( example at http://www.svc.com/ec-hd-ar-bk.html )... Adding dust filter on the air intake of your case is a good move... slowdown a little the airflow but it is nothing compare to dust package inside you case after a few weeks... these dust act like a isolator and it don't help the heat exchange... and it is more easy to clean a filter that a whole case...
A interesting article : http://www.dansdata.com/gz101.htm
43 to 46 is too hot?
Perhaps that's where the reasoning falls down....;)
I have 3 HDDS and right now SpeedFan shows them at 24, 25 and 26 degrees. Most off-the-shelf computers have the bare minimum as far as HDD and CPU cooling, and I do mean bare minimum. My computer was custom-built by www.AVADirect.com and they went to great lengths to give me a cool and quiet system. There are 2 12 cm. Noctua fans in front of the HDDs and this is the reason they run as cold as they do. The CPU has a Noctua heatsink and it runs at around 40 degrees (overclocked to 4.02 GHz).
Here are some pix:
1) Noctua NH-U12P Heatsink: http://www.pbase.com/copperhill/image/116244768/original
2) Computer sideview: http://www.pbase.com/copperhill/image/119803786/original
3) Computer frontview: http://www.pbase.com/copperhill/image/122129610/original
If you are stuck with stock fans, yes, 46 degrees is plenty hot, you may be able to replace them with something better. Most computers leave you very little room to modify the airflow, but as stated above, there are specific HDD coolers that could be installed. Running HDDs, CPUs and graphic cards at extremely hot temps will undoubtedly shorten their lifespans.
Good luck,
Nicholas
So what is hot for different characteristics of a HDD within the last few years?
Best regards,
Steven.
^ Steven, found this for you: http://www.almico.com/sfarticle.php?id=2
"So what is hot for different characteristics of a HDD within the last few years?"
If it's under 50 it'll be fine.
If it's well under 50 it'll be better.
Mine run 24/7.... smart shows them as 100% and ticking over at 38.
In 2 years they've been off for about 14 days....;)
Was that your desert island vacation? 
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