Hard Drive Temperature in 50-53C range?

Hello everyone!

I've been monitoring my iMac's HD temps using Temperature Monitor. When my iMac is busy (by busy, I mean browsing the internet, typing Word documents/making Keynote presentations or watching a DVD), HD temps can get into the 50-53 degrees Celsius range. The average would be around 51.5 C. I'm a little worried since my HD's maximum operating temperature is rated at 55 C. Are other users getting the same temperature?

20" iMac G5 (iSight) ; 14" iBook G4 1.2 GHz (with OS 10.3.9), Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Posted on Dec 15, 2005 6:45 AM

40 replies

hihlordjp Author

Level 1

149 points

Dec 18, 2005 5:05 AM in response to Barry Fisher

Mine been like that since I bought it may no what I'm
doing. The fan speeds just go up or down to maintain
it. Only time its different is when it just wakes up.
This is fine for the HD. There's a lot of
misunderstanding about the 55 C limit. it refers to
the ambiant tempeture, not the drive tempeture.
There are real things to worry about in life, this
aint one of them.

Are you certain? "Operating temperatures" refer to the temperatures wherein it is acceptable to run the drive, not the limits of the drive itself?

Dec 18, 2005 11:40 PM in response to hihlordjp

Mine been like that since I bought it may no what

I'm

doing. The fan speeds just go up or down to

maintain

it. Only time its different is when it just wakes

up.

This is fine for the HD. There's a lot of
misunderstanding about the 55 C limit. it refers

to

the ambiant tempeture, not the drive tempeture.
There are real things to worry about in life, this
aint one of them.

Are you certain? "Operating temperatures" refer to
the temperatures wherein it is acceptable to run the
drive, not the limits of the drive itself?

Yes, I'm sure that the eternal harddrive temp can run at 130 F without failure due to temp. My drive is an Hitachi, the spec reads ambiant temp 55C.
Check here. http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/7k400/7k400.htm

hihlordjp Author

Level 1

149 points

Dec 19, 2005 12:11 AM in response to Barry Fisher

Yes, I'm sure that the eternal harddrive temp can
run at 130 F without failure due to temp. My drive
is an Hitachi, the spec reads ambiant temp 55C.
Check here.
http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/7k400/7k400.htm

I see. So, the readings given by Temperature Monitor are not the ambient temperature readings? They're the temperature of the drive itself? If that's the case, shouldn't that cause me to be concerned nonetheless?

Dec 19, 2005 12:34 AM in response to hihlordjp

Yes, I'm sure that the eternal harddrive temp can
run at 130 F without failure due to temp. My

drive

is an Hitachi, the spec reads ambiant temp 55C.
Check here.

http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/7k400/7k400.htm

I see. So, the readings given by Temperature Monitor
are not the ambient temperature readings? They're the
temperature of the drive itself? If that's the case,
shouldn't that cause me to be concerned nonetheless?

No it shouldn't.

hihlordjp Author

Level 1

149 points

Dec 19, 2005 10:32 PM in response to Barry Fisher

No it shouldn't.

Ah... Well, then, I'll take your advice (and Jason Mraz's) not to worry. hehe Thanks! 😀

Dec 20, 2005 12:19 AM in response to hihlordjp

I don't think the temperatures being reported are correct. We need a number of you to drill holes in your computer and take readings with an IR thermometer. I am sure a hardware expert will let you know where to drill.

Dec 20, 2005 12:58 AM in response to Robert Wolf

I don't think the temperatures being reported are
correct. We need a number of you to drill holes in
your computer and take readings with an IR
thermometer. I am sure a hardware expert will let you
know where to drill.

I volunteer yours to start:) if temps aren't correct, at least they're consistent pretty much. Have any of you blown a harddrive yet due to a 53 C reading? I don't think so.

Dec 21, 2005 1:27 AM in response to Barry Fisher

I know Hardware Monitor tells me the Incoming Air Temperature is 10 deg. C higher than the room temperture. I don't even know if my iMac G5 20" iSight has an incoming air temperature sensor. Maybe you worry about everthing?

iMac G5 20" iSight & eMac 1.25 Ghz Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Dec 22, 2005 6:06 AM in response to Robert Wolf

Yesterday I purchased the complete Hardware Monitor so that I can have all its features. Not a bad deal at all for the price and all its features. The temp history graph should prove interesting. In the past as I recall the highest my CPU temp would get would be around 75C when I would be doing a lot of stuff at once. Right now it is at 53C so I guess all is well. Again, thanks everyone as this string has answered my questions.!

iGreg

Level 2

382 points

Feb 5, 2006 11:38 AM in response to Jürgen Kraus

T is perfectly normal!

I am presently ripping CDs downloading , and surfing
the web. CPU temps are betwee 61 and 80C, hd between
52 and 53.5C, and smart status hd between 58 and
64C.

Jurgen

---
I do not understand this post. It sounds like your talking about two different hard drives. Whats difference between hd and smart status hd?

Temperature Moniter currently says my Hard Drive is 56.0 C, while all I am doing is using Safari.

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Hard Drive Temperature in 50-53C range?