HDD Temps


ilovejedd

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I was working on my unRAID server last night (added 3x iStarUSA Tray Less Mobile Rack, 3x 1.5TB Seagate 7200.11 Barracuda and 2x Scythe Slipstream 120mm front intake).

 

I mounted the Seagates in the iStarUSA racks and became very concerned when I was getting 50~51C. I ramped up the 140mm and 120mm exhaust fans and the Seagate's temps dropped to 46C during parity calculation. Ambient room temperature was pretty high - it went past the reading on our thermostat which goes up to 90F (~32C). Anyway, temperatures reported by the Seagate drives seem normal enough (although I'd like to lower those, too). I'm really more concerned about my 2 1TB Samsung HD103UJ's.

 

Prior to dismantling the case, I was getting 35~36C on the Samsung's. After I added the front intake fans (situated directly in front of the hard drives), temps went down to 29~31C (right around room temp at the time of testing) while the Seagate's were registering 49~51C. My question is, should I not trust the temperature readings on the Samsung drive? On average, how much hotter do hard drives run above room temperature, anyway (assuming there's optimal cooling)? Also, any suggestions on how I can lower temps on the Seagate's? I'll post a picture of the inside of the case when I get home. I do believe I might be lacking in the cable maintenance department, and for the life of me, I can't think of any way I could organize the cables to allow more airflow to the mobile racks, ergo SATA drives.

 

Specifications:

Antec Three Hundred

Corsair 550VX

Intel Celeron 430 @ stock

2x Samsung HD103UJ 1TB 7200 RPM

3x Seagate ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM

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(added 3x iStarUSA Tray Less Mobile Rack

 

Which ones ? Are these fanless or do they have fans?

 

50c is too hot... mid 40s is the highest you should let it ever get, then work on lowering them to low or under 40s.

 

 

My thoughts are if you have front intake fans on some of your drives, then you might need to do the same type of methodology on all of them.

Either all fans should be pushing or pulling.

I'll know and understand more when I understand the type of trayless removables selected.

In my case, I have 9 trayless removables with no fans. i.e. they are all open.

However I have 3 120MM fans as exhaust fans + the 120MM powersupply fan.

I have various vents around my case blocked off so the only way air comes in is from the front of the drives.

so all of them are pulling

 

My drives range from mid 30s to mid 40s in the heat of the summer.

I'm sure they will hit the upper 20s in the winter as I keep the apt on the cool side.

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I was working on my unRAID server last night (added 3x iStarUSA Tray Less Mobile Rack, 3x 1.5TB Seagate 7200.11 Barracuda and 2x Scythe Slipstream 120mm front intake).

 

I mounted the Seagates in the iStarUSA racks and became very concerned when I was getting 50~51C. I ramped up the 140mm and 120mm exhaust fans and the Seagate's temps dropped to 46C during parity calculation. Ambient room temperature was pretty high - it went past the reading on our thermostat which goes up to 90F (~32C). Anyway, temperatures reported by the Seagate drives seem normal enough (although I'd like to lower those, too). I'm really more concerned about my 2 1TB Samsung HD103UJ's.

 

Prior to dismantling the case, I was getting 35~36C on the Samsung's. After I added the front intake fans (situated directly in front of the hard drives), temps went down to 29~31C (right around room temp at the time of testing) while the Seagate's were registering 49~51C. My question is, should I not trust the temperature readings on the Samsung drive? On average, how much hotter do hard drives run above room temperature, anyway (assuming there's optimal cooling)? Also, any suggestions on how I can lower temps on the Seagate's? I'll post a picture of the inside of the case when I get home. I do believe I might be lacking in the cable maintenance department, and for the life of me, I can't think of any way I could organize the cables to allow more airflow to the mobile racks, ergo SATA drives.

 

I have a number of Seagate drives, but none of the 1.5T ones yet.  Their temp sensors have been pretty consistent with results from other branded drives.

 

I would be very concerned with temps in the 50s.  There is general agreement here that < 40C is pretty safe, 40C - 44C is pretty warm, 45C - 49C is too hot for long term use.  50C+ is just asking for trouble.

 

You might want to post some pictures of your rig and there might be some suggestions forum users might make.  I have had some pretty good luck with a dremel cutting fan holes and improvising to provide airflow.  Check out my rig (see link in my sig) for some pictures that might give you some ideas.

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You should not use an intake fan on the case, unless it is in front of the drives.... even then, an intake fan in front of some drives can make OTHER drives hotter because it increases inflow in one area, but decreases it in another.

 

Except for intake fans in front of the drives, in general, beef up exhaust fans for a case to cool drives, and beef-up intake fans to cool the CPU.

 

 

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You should not use an intake fan on the case, unless it is in front of the drives.... even then, an intake fan in front of some drives can make OTHER drives hotter because it increases inflow in one area, but decreases it in another.

 

Except for intake fans in front of the drives, in general, beef up exhaust fans for a case to cool drives, and beef-up intake fans to cool the CPU.

 

I agree here totally, unless you are going to put intake fans on ALL your drives.

it also depends on where your drives are located in the case (and the design of the case).

 

This is why I asked which i-Star trayless you are using.

The models I use are fanless. There are certain models that have a 40mm fan but are encased in aluminum.

There are the 2in3 and 3in5 which have fans.

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Which ones ? Are these fanless or do they have fans?

 

The iStarUSA T-5-SA 1x5.25" Bay Trayless Anti-vibration SATA Mobile Rack are the ones I bought.

 

I have a number of Seagate drives, but none of the 1.5T ones yet.  Their temp sensors have been pretty consistent with results from other branded drives.

 

I would be very concerned with temps in the 50s.  There is general agreement here that < 40C is pretty safe, 40C - 44C is pretty warm, 45C - 49C is too hot for long term use.  50C+ is just asking for trouble.

 

You might want to post some pictures of your rig and there might be some suggestions forum users might make.  I have had some pretty good luck with a dremel cutting fan holes and improvising to provide airflow.  Check out my rig (see link in my sig) for some pictures that might give you some ideas.

 

Yeah, that's why I immediately ramped up the exhaust fans to high (which did drop down the drive temps to mid-40's). Not really handy with a dremel but I was thinking maybe I could put a 120mm fan to help pull air from the drives mounted in the 5.25" bays or replace the back 120mm exhaust fan with a higher CFM one.

 

On second look, these are the newer `1.5tb seagates..

These might run a lil hotter then the rest because of the extra platter.

Check segate's site for proper running temperature.

They mare require more active cooling.

 

I did check manufacturer specifications before buying hard drives. I've still got a bunch of print-outs of specification sheets. From memory, operating temperatures of current commonly-used consumer-level HDD's are as follows:

Western Digital: 0~55C

Samsung: 0~60C

Seagate: 0~60C

 

Despite that, I really don't like seeing my drives running any higher than low 40's. :-\

 

You should not use an intake fan on the case, unless it is in front of the drives.... even then, an intake fan in front of some drives can make OTHER drives hotter because it increases inflow in one area, but decreases it in another.

 

Except for intake fans in front of the drives, in general, beef up exhaust fans for a case to cool drives, and beef-up intake fans to cool the CPU.

 

Thanks. As of now, I won't bother disconnecting the intake fans since I'll be rearranging my hard drives so that the ones in the 5.25" drive trays are the Samsung's as those seem to run cooler and one Seagate drive used as parity. That was the original plan anyway, I just didn't have the time to re-arrange all those drives yesterday. You guys may have wives that you need to consult with; I've got a mom who doesn't know that my unRAID server exists and I'd just as soon keep it that way. ::)

 

No actual pictures yet, but just to give you guys an idea:

antec300revisedtv0.png

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I have a similar arrangement, but with 3 3-2 adapters with fans in the upper bays. i had to reverse my 2 front fans to exhaust in order to get enough airflow through the removable trays.

 

Air will take the path of least resistance, so if you have those 2 fans supplying intake air, you won't get much flow over the more restrictive top bays.

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Swapped hard drive locations and inverted the 120mm Scythe fans so they're now working as exhaust. Oh yeah, SoCal weather suddenly became much cooler (from 90+F down to 70+F) so I don't really know how much of the temp drop is due to the inversion of fans and how much is due to the weather change.

 

Drives are now (top to bottom):

Seagate 1.5TB - <30C idle, 40C load

Samsung 1TB - <30C idle, 35C load

Samsung 1TB - <30C idle, 35C load

Seagate 1.5TB - <30C idle, 36C load

Seagate 1.5TB - <30C idle, 36C load

empty

empty

empty

empty

 

antec300cc3.th.jpgthpix.gif

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Those temps are much much better.

 

>> inverted the 120mm Scythe fans

Where are these?

I see a rear exhaust and a top exhaust.

 

Also which model are they?

I had a "silent" model, but it just did not move enough air. (at least for my drive layout).

 

 

One way to tell if the new fan arrangement is working..

Leave the side off the case for a while (monitor the temps closely).

If they rise to uncomfortable levels (over 44c) put the side on and watch if they drop or rise.

 

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Added to the FAQ (link back only), here.  Feel free to edit or expand.

 

Note:  I've been adding these notes for awhile, and although I have received no complaints, I could see them becoming annoying, or useless off-topic clutter.  I add them partly for just what the note says (hoping someone will want to expand the entry), partly to flag it as added already (there are so many more to be added), and partly to 'promote' the FAQ, refresh user memories of the FAQ and other Wiki tools.  If it is becoming annoying, please let me know, and I'll stop.

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Those temps are much much better.

 

>> inverted the 120mm Scythe fans

Where are these?

I see a rear exhaust and a top exhaust.

 

Also which model are they?

I had a "silent" model, but it just did not move enough air. (at least for my drive layout).

 

Please refer to the original layout here:

antec300revisedtv0.png

 

The Scythe fans are in front of the internal 3.5" drive bays and have been inverted so they're now acting as exhaust.

 

One way to tell if the new fan arrangement is working..

Leave the side off the case for a while (monitor the temps closely).

If they rise to uncomfortable levels (over 44c) put the side on and watch if they drop or rise.

 

Thanks for the tip. Since I'm happy with current temps, I'm not really up to playing with it now (not to mention I've got a bad cold and should be resting). However, I'll keep that in mind when I populate the case with more hard drives. I think I'll make a cowl like bubbaQ mentioned for the upper drive bays.

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Are you leaving the side-fan out, or closing off the hole there for forced airflow somewhere else?  Right now mine's just open-air, and I have an antec 120mm as an intake on the top 3 3.5 bays (and I'm ordering another for the lower 3).  My temps are around 30-31 idle (except the bottom most drive, a 500g PATA which runs about 34-35 idle).  On a parity check, temps stabalize around 35 across the board, except the 500g gets to around 37.  I found it interesting that the 2 640g WD's will actually stabalize 4 or 5 degrees lower once the other drives have gone to sleep during the parity check (once it's read the 300-320g drives, those power down and all that is left are the 500 & 640's).

 

Decent temps I think, but bet it'd be even better in my 900 case (it's currently got like 4 120's, and the honkin huge 200mm in the top)..

 

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Are you leaving the side-fan out, or closing off the hole there for forced airflow somewhere else?  Right now mine's just open-air, and I have an antec 120mm as an intake on the top 3 3.5 bays (and I'm ordering another for the lower 3).  My temps are around 30-31 idle (except the bottom most drive, a 500g PATA which runs about 34-35 idle).  On a parity check, temps stabalize around 35 across the board, except the 500g gets to around 37.  I found it interesting that the 2 640g WD's will actually stabalize 4 or 5 degrees lower once the other drives have gone to sleep during the parity check (once it's read the 300-320g drives, those power down and all that is left are the 500 & 640's).

 

Decent temps I think, but bet it'd be even better in my 900 case (it's currently got like 4 120's, and the honkin huge 200mm in the top)..

I didn't install a side fan and we seem to have ran out of tape so I haven't gotten around to patching the hole. I should probably get around to doing that, but I'm still too sick to play around with it at the moment. As for the fans in front of the 3.5" bays, I've reversed those so they now act as exhaust. That seemed to improve temps of HDD's mounted in SATA mobile racks in the top 5.25" bays. Those look like pretty good temps. What's your ambient?

 

I actually like the Antec 300's simple design better than the 900's. I just wish they made it with 9 5.25" drive bays same as the 900.

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The room the machine is currently in is approx. 78 right now, and the temps are pretty stable.  The only part I would change on the 900 for using it with unraid would be the clear side-panel, the top was changed like it is so they could fit the big fan up there.  The machines do at least match in style, lol.

 

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