Seagate Cache Drive constantly at 50-52C

[manolodf]

My seagate 160GB cache drive pretty quickly after spinning up at 50-52C and shoots me warning emails.  I need to leave it since I dont have any other drive at the moment, and when I did not use the Cache Drive my WD 2TB EARS drive kept giving me the "There is a problem accessing" and other networking errors.  Once the cache drive went into action those annoying errors stopped. 

 

I am also trying to figure out what to do with my 2TB WD EARS drive so its not a total waste, I was contemplating getting a 2TB WD Black as Parity, moving my existing seagate parity to an array disk etc. I definately like the cache drive though I am just worried about the temps.

[Joe L.]

My seagate 160GB cache drive pretty quickly after spinning up at 50-52C and shoots me warning emails.  I need to leave it since I dont have any other drive at the moment, and when I did not use the Cache Drive my WD 2TB EARS drive kept giving me the "There is a problem accessing" and other networking errors.  Once the cache drive went into action those annoying errors stopped. 

 

I am also trying to figure out what to do with my 2TB WD EARS drive so its not a total waste, I was contemplating getting a 2TB WD Black as Parity, moving my existing seagate parity to an array disk etc. I definately like the cache drive though I am just worried about the temps.

You need to get more air flowing past that drive.  Over 50C temps are shortening the life of that drive.  Add a fan pointed at the drive.

[manolodf]

Unfortunately thats impossible in my situation since i have the Chenbro Case, its a mini itx case that has no way of adding more airflow. I guess i need to find a better cache drive that runs cooler?  My seagate parity runs at 35ish and my WD EARS normally 40

[Joe L.]

Unfortunately thats impossible in my situation since i have the Chenbro Case, its a mini itx case that has no way of adding more airflow. I guess i need to find a better cache drive that runs cooler?  My seagate parity runs at 35ish and my WD EARS normally 40

I guess then you need to set the "warning" threshold higher on the e-mail alerts you've configured and just expect it to get hot.  Perhaps there is a way to close off/tape over existing vents to better direct air-flow past the disks.

 

Joe L.

[chanders]

I was really considering getting that case before going with the coolermaster! Are your ambient temperatures high?

[manolodf]

The house thermostat is set to 80F, so 27C

 

My other drives are just fine, its just that older 160gb cache drive seems to be a hot one. Its a seagate barracuda 7200rpm probably about 7 years old.

 

I love the case, its quiet, small and just flat out practical, with the whole thing about me loving the cache drive option i plan on maxing it out with 4 drives and maybe using the esata port as the cache drive.

[jtown]

Unfortunately thats impossible in my situation since i have the Chenbro Case, its a mini itx case that has no way of adding more airflow. I guess i need to find a better cache drive that runs cooler?  My seagate parity runs at 35ish and my WD EARS normally 40

 

There are always ways to add improve cooling.  Fans that move more air, clean up wiring that's obstructing airflow, reposition fans or add ducting to direct the flow of air more efficiently, etc.

 

The simplest way to cool that drive would be to take an old 486/pentium CPU fan off its heat sink and sticky-tape it in a position that blows air over the hot drive (preferably towards the exhaust fan).  I did this with my series 1 Tivo years and years ago because the drives were located in a dead spot with no airflow at all.  Just stirring the air with that tiny, quiet fan cooled the drives and the entire Tivo considerably (somewhere around 10C).  I'd be surprised if it moved a cubic foot per minute.  If you don't have a small fan kicking around, Newegg has a 25mm fan under 20db for $7.49.  A couple of 30mm fans for $5.49.

[BRiT]

Are you sure you have both of the lower compartment's fans running?

 

I have that case and never saw drive temps exceed 34 C, but then again the ambient where it's at is more around 21 C (70 F) and three drives are WD Greens and the cache drive is 7200rpm WD Black.

[manolodf]

Yes, those fans are running, I really do think its just that drive that runs hot for some reason, because the other drives run just fine in my opinion, i really just think its a hot drive and if i were to replace it with some other drive, it would run cooler.  I cant mount any fans outside of it, and the box doesnt seem to have enough room to just add fans, but i could direct airflow I think, though its designed specifically to be a 4 bay hot-swap box so I would have to think its desiged for this?

[BRiT]

It should be perfectly fine for the use. I ran it with all 4 bays utilized.

 

Perhaps as an experiment you can run the Segate cache drive when it's sitting outside the case by running a SATA and power cable directly to it, just so you can see what temps it shows when it isn't cramped up? And then see how hot it runs with an 80mm fan blowing on it. If it still runs that hot, then I'd tend to think it's just that drive.

[Rajahal]

I've noticed that my older 7200 rpm Seagate drives run about 5 degrees hotter than the rest of my drives, so I think older Seagates do just run a bit hot.  50C+ is too hot, though, mine stay under 45C.

[KYThrill]

I think your case is just too small.  You will be hard pressed to get adequate cooling into it.  I would consider getting a large case with more fans.

 

At idle or light use, my drives stay 30C or lower (except my Caviar Black).  And even under hard use (6 hours of continuous reads/writes), most drives never exceed 32C (the Caviar Black being the one exception peaking at 37C).  All but one of my drives is 7200 rpm too. 

 

My experience is that Samsung Spinpoints are always the coolest drives by a few C, so you may want to consider replacing that drive too.

[Rajahal]

My experience is that Samsung Spinpoints are always the coolest drives by a few C, so you may want to consider replacing that drive too.

 

Except that Samsungs misrepresent their temperatures by as much as 10 degrees, sometimes.  Modern green Samsung, WD, and Seagate drives all run at about the same temperature, within a range of a few degrees.

[BRiT]

I think your case is just too small.  You will be hard pressed to get adequate cooling into it.

 

Wrong. The case is perfectly fine. It's built for it. Some of us have used it without issue.

 

The Samsung temp readings are utter crap. They're off anywhere from 5 C to 10C, often times reporting temps below ambient.

[KYThrill]

My experience is that Samsung Spinpoints are always the coolest drives by a few C, so you may want to consider replacing that drive too.

 

Except that Samsungs misrepresent their temperatures by as much as 10 degrees, sometimes.  Modern green Samsung, WD, and Seagate drives all run at about the same temperature, within a range of a few degrees.

 

Gee, where did that fiction come from.  I know my Samsung drives are reading correctly.  And after doing a Google search for a problem, in the first five pages there is only one report of any problems with a Samsung temp reading, and that is with it reading hotter than it actually is.

 

I did see reports of inaccurate temp readings from Seagates though.  All I said is  that the Samsung's are cooler by a few C.  29C for a Spinpoint F3 vs 31C for a WD Green of the same size.

[BRiT]

It's not fiction. It's fact. Search these very forums for hard evidence. Samsung drives have reported temps below ambient, sometimes as much as 10 C.

 

It is IMPOSSIBLE for any hard drive to be below ambient temps unless you have it attached to a thermocouple for cooling.

 

[mcs]

It's not fiction. It's fact. Search these very forums for hard evidence. Samsung drives have reported temps below ambient, sometimes as much as 10 C.

 

It is IMPOSSIBLE for any hard drive to be below ambient temps unless you have it attached to a thermocouple for cooling.

 

I have the same experience with my Samsungs.

 

In a unRAID box with seven disks (mix of Samsung, WD, Seagate, Hitachi) the Samsungs typically show 5-10 BELOW ambient during parity checks, while all others show sensible temperatures (ambient plus 5-20 C).

[KYThrill]

Well, then you have a bad drive, just like the batch of Seagates that reported 92C at powerup in 25C ambients.  But you guys are acting like Samsung's are across the board inaccurate and you are wrong.  If that were the case, a Google search of "Samsung HDD wrong temp" would return a large amount of hits.  It returns nothing.  NOTHING!

 

I guess everyone has to cling to some generalized fiction to feel better about their choice in hardware or something.

 

EVERY manufacturer makes bad batches of drives.  So a couple people on this forum bought a few bad drives, it doesn't make the line bad across the board.  If it was a widespread problem there would be widespread talk of it.  If you got a drive that reported SMART data that was clearly wrong, then why not RMA it?  You accepted a clearly defective drive and but your system at risk.  Temp Sensor failure is an across the line problem for every drive manufacturer.  I see reports of batches of Seagates with failed sensors, batches of WD Raptors with failed sensors.  I'm sure Samsung has had batches with failed thermal sensors too.

[SSD]

There have been many posts about Samsung drives showing below normal drive temps in these forums.  The explanation has been that the sensor is placed in a non-optimal location which is close to but not at the drive hot spot, and therefore will not be reporting apples-to-apples temps compared to other drives.  I do not own any Samsung drives so can't comment from personal experience.

[KYThrill]

There have been many posts about Samsung drives showing below normal drive temps in these forums.  The explanation has been that the sensor is placed in a non-optimal location which is close to but not at the drive hot spot, and therefore will not be reporting apples-to-apples temps compared to other drives.  I do not own any Samsung drives so can't comment from personal experience.

 

Since everyone is so concerned with the facts, I searched the forum and there have been several posts about Samsung HDD's having temps too low.  And everyone of those posts were started by either mcs or bubbaQ.  And BRiT is never far behind to chime in and reference mcs or BubbaQ.

 

So the facts are that two guys had a failed drive, and two drives do not a wide scale problem make.  Samsung temps are just as reliable as any other brand on the market.  

 

Oh and here is a link to a guy reporting that his WD HDD read a SMART temp of 200C.  And then read post #3 of the same thread.  Another WD temperature problem! That's TWO people reporting a WD problem too.  I guess that means all WD drive temps are inaccurate and can't be trusted either!

 

http://forums.storagereview.com/index.php/topic/22613-hard-disk-temperature-over-200c/

[BRiT]

I am merely educating. But if you feel the need to not believe two highly respected community contributors then that's your loss.

[KYThrill]

I am merely educating. But if you feel the need to be a total dick about the matter, go ahead.

 

 

Is "educating" people with propaganda any better?

[BRiT]

If you consider the truth to be propaganda...

[BRiT]

I swear none of these other posters are me, but I can't vouch that they're not mcs or bubbaQ.

 

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6431849#post6431849

 

http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=489923&sid=71212c2aa8484c5bef1ef63a8e5d2ac2#489923

 

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1181659#r14

 

 

 

 

 

 

[KYThrill]

I swear none of these other posters are me, but I can't vouch that they're not mcs or bubbaQ.

 

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6431849#post6431849

 

 

HAHAHA, your propaganda is getting really funny now!  Your linking forums that get their info from the unRAID forum.  Classic!

 

And the third link you posted, the person reporting the problem is username mcs!  HAHAHAHA!  Funny joke!

 

And even 5 reports of low temperatures do not a systemic problem make.  5 bad drives do still not mean all Samsung's are inaccurate.  It's still propaganda.

 

It would be the same as me saying that all WD drives report inaccurate temps because the guy from my previous link reported:

 

There's a lot of similar temperature sensor problems with WD drives reported recently. Fortunately, these drives are still working well and are in fact moderately warm only

 

I have 14 such reports sent me during last month. Mostly different capacity WDxxxxJS drives but also some other series too.

 

So if a handful of Samsung drives out of millions produced (across dozens of different models) are solid evidence of a systemic failure of all Samsung drives.  Then the one thread I posted has enough "evidence" of a systemic problem in the millions of WD drives sold.  So if your "evidence" means all Samsung temps are crap, then by the same standard, all Western Digital temps are crap too.  And since all Seagate drives are crap because thousands of models had a firmware problem (so all model Seagates must be junk by your reasoning), then I guess the only drive temps we can trust are Hitachi.

 

So to the OP, don't worry, your drive probably isn't running 52C if you listen to these guys.  It is probably just the result of Seagate's faulty firmware.  You are probably fine ramping it up another 10-15C at least. {sarcasm}

 

 

The real truth is that all drive manufacturers make defective drives.  These defects are varied, but one defect is a temp report that is too high and another defect is a temp report that is too low.  All manufacturers of hard drives will have drives that exhibit these problems.  It does not mean all their drives are wrong, only a handful of faulty drives that should be RMA'd instead of being deployed.

 

Thats the truth.