[mythtv-users] USB Hard Drive Lifespans and power usage question

Brian Wood beww at beww.org
Mon Aug 4 23:16:13 UTC 2008


Calvin Dodge wrote:
> On Mon, Aug 4, 2008 at 3:30 PM, Steve Peters - Priority Electronics
> <steve at priorityelectronics.com> wrote:
>>
>> So this leads me back to part of my original post:
>>
>> Am I killing my drives by having their "idle" temp be 53C and 54C and "full
>> on HDD chugging" temp be around 63C?
> 
> It's hard to say.  Google (which uses a rather large number of hard
> drives) did a survey about two years ago, and found that drive
> failures increased as drive temperature DECREASED, for drives younger
> than 3 years old. High drive temperatures were correlated with
> failures only for older drives.
> 
> Still, I'd be a little nervous with the 63C temps.

Correct about the Google study.

HDD temps over 50C would indicate very poor cooling in the enclosure
they are in. I'd be more concerned about the mobo components and other
devices in that hotbox.

It's amazing how little consideration is given to cooling in consumer
case designs, it often comes close to zero. Many cases are sold without
fans, leaving it up to the buyer to select the type and number of them,
and some owners opt to forgo any fans at all. I have seen some gamer
types that put fans all over the place, often working against each other.

I try and stick with server type cases when I can. Even the cheapest 1U
rack mount case has better cooling than most consumer units IMHO.

Many folks depend on temperature monitoring utilities that border on
worthless if they are not properly calibrated. Also remember that any
temperature control system can only control the temperature of their
sensor(s).

beww





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