Maximum laptop hard drive temperature

The service life of a hard drive whose operating temperature is outside the standards stated by the manufacturer is significantly shorter. As a rule, the hard drive overheats, which has a detrimental effect on its performance and can lead to failure, including complete loss of all stored information.

HDDs produced by different companies have their own optimal temperature ranges, which the user needs to monitor from time to time. The indicators are influenced by several factors: room temperature, the number of fans and their speed, the amount of dust inside and the degree of load.

General information

Since 2012, the number of companies producing hard drives has decreased significantly. Only three were recognized as the largest manufacturers: Seagate, Western Digital and Toshiba. They remain the main ones to this day, which is why most users’ computers and laptops have a hard drive installed from one of the three listed companies.

Without being tied to a specific manufacturer, we can say that the optimal temperature range for HDD is from 30 to 45 °C. These are stable indicators of a disk operating in a clean room at room temperature, under an average load - running inexpensive programs such as a text editor, browser, etc. When using resource-intensive applications and games, or actively downloading (for example, via torrent), an increase in temperature should be expected by 10-15 °C.

Anything below 25°C is bad, even though drives can usually operate at 0°C. The fact is that at low temperatures the HDD constantly experiences changes in heat generated during operation and cold. These are not normal conditions for the drive to operate.

Above 50-55 °C is already considered a critical figure, which should not exist at an average level of disk load.

Operating temperatures of different hard drive manufacturers

Western Digital and HGST drive temperatures

HGST is the same Hitachi that became a division of Western Digital. Therefore, further we will talk about all disks representing the WD brand.

The drives produced by this company have a significant jump in the maximum limit: some are completely limited to 55 °C, and some can withstand 70 °C. The averages are not very different from Seagate:

Minimum: 5 °C;
Optimal: 35-40 °C;
Maximum: 60 °C (70 °C for some models).

Some WD drives can operate at 0 °C, but this, of course, is highly undesirable.

Toshiba drive temperatures

Toshiba has good overheat protection, however, their operating temperatures are almost the same:

Minimum: 0 °C;
Optimal: 35-40 °C;
Maximum: 60 °C.

Some drives from this company have a lower limit of 55 °C.

As you can see, the differences between drives from different manufacturers are almost minimal, but Western Digital is still better than the rest. Their devices can withstand higher temperatures and can operate at 0 degrees.

Temperature Differences

The difference in average temperature depends not only on external conditions, but also on the disks themselves. For example, Hitachi and the Black line from Western Digital, according to observations, heat up more noticeably than others. Therefore, under the same load, HDDs from different manufacturers will heat up differently. But in general, the indicators should not deviate from the standard of 35-40 °C.

More manufacturers produce external hard drives, but there is still no significant difference between the operating temperatures of internal and external HDDs. It often happens that external drives get a little hotter, and this is normal.

Hard drives built into laptops operate in approximately the same temperature ranges. However, they almost always heat up faster and hotter. Therefore, slightly higher values of 48-50 °C are considered acceptable. Anything higher is no longer safe.

Of course, often the hard drive operates at temperatures above the recommended norm, and there is nothing to worry about, because writing and reading occur constantly. But the disk should not overheat during idle mode and under low load. Therefore, to extend the life of your drive, check its temperature from time to time. This is very easy to measure using special programs, such as the free HWMonitor. Avoid temperature changes and take care of cooling so that the hard drive works long and stably.

Methods for checking temperature

First of all, you need to find out the current temperature of the hard drive. Programs specially designed for this will help us with this. The most popular of them are rightfully considered AIDA64 (formerly EVEREST) and Speccy. Let's try to determine the main advantages of each of them.

Speccy

A small free utility that can be used to check the thermal performance of your hard drive.

Couldn't fix the problem? Contact a specialist for help!

Its main advantages are:

Availability of a Russified version, as well as a portable version that does not require installation on a personal computer.
High operating speed. You can view data on the operating temperature of your hard drive within 10-15 seconds after launching the utility.
A large number of additional options, even in the free version.
Works great on Windows OS, from XP to Windows 10.

How to use it:

Download it from. site. Link to regular and portable versions.
Install and launch. At the very beginning of the installation, it is possible to select the Russian language. If necessary, the language can be changed in the settings.
Go to the “General Information” section and go down to the “Data Storage” subsection. The current operating temperature of the hard drive is displayed here.

If you go to the settings, you can configure the program so that an icon with thermal values is always displayed in the notification area.

In the menu, go to the “View” - “Options” section.
Move to the “Notification Area” tab and check the boxes next to the items “Collapse to tray”, “Show values”. In the “Output” column, select “Data storage” and in the “Sensor” column indicate your HDD drive.

For greater convenience, you can select the Speccy launch item when you start your computer.

AIDA64

Another small program designed to diagnose the entire computer. It is capable of not only measuring the temperature of an individual device, but also showing all the information about it.

Couldn't fix the problem? Contact a specialist for help!

Its main advantages:

Free.
Providing operational information on almost any element of the PC and software.
Providing access to many sections of the computer that cannot be reached using standard operating system tools.
User-friendly interface.
Supports operating systems Windows (all versions), Android and IOS.

Download, install, launch.
In the left menu, go to the “Computer” - “Sensors” tab. Then in the main window we will see all the information we need.

In fact, “AIDA” is a fairly simple program with very rich functionality. For example, you can set a critical temperature for the hard drive, and not only for it, when reached, you will receive a notification. Conduct a stress test of the entire system and much more.

Of course, there are other utilities that can measure the thermal indicators of a hard drive, such as “HDD Life” (also shows SMART, but it’s paid, and the free version has very limited functionality), “Crystal Disk Info” (shows the health of the HDD, SMART) , “HW Monotor” (analogous to Speccy) and others. I just told you about the most popular ones; it’s up to you to decide which utilities you end up using.

Couldn't fix the problem? Contact a specialist for help!

Thermal indicators: normal and critical

What should the ideal hard drive temperature be? This indicator may vary somewhat depending on the specific brand of the device and its characteristics, however, there is still an average gradation:

30 - 45 degrees Celsius are optimal operating temperatures, which are typical for most brands of HDD (including Seagate, Western Digital, Hitachi, etc.).
45 - 50 degrees are undesirable, but acceptable values.
55 - 60 degrees is considered a critical temperature. With such values, the service life of the device is reduced several times.

For some hard drives, the maximum “limit” thermal indicators are 60-70 degrees. At such values, the service life is reduced tens of times.

You can often hear the statement that “the lower the degree, the better for the hard drive.” We dare to assure you of the opposite - low temperatures (below 25 degrees) are just as destructive for the hard drive as high ones. Under their influence, the materials used in the HDD contract, causing the device to fail.

Acceptable and critical HDD temperature

The hard drive temperature is acceptable within 50 degrees, but the user will notice rather slow data processing. The main reason for such changes is the accumulation of dust on the cooler, components and board, which does not allow the hard drive to receive sufficient cooling. Reaching 50 degrees indicates the need to clean internal circuits.

The critical temperature of the hard drive is 60 degrees or higher. The result of such an increase will be HDD failure. The initial sign will be the failure of individual sectors and clusters. Such a problem must be resolved immediately, otherwise the user will need a full replacement of the hard drive in the future.

Ways to deal with hard drive overheating

And finally, let's analyze the main ways to combat hard drive overheating:

Cleaning the system unit from dust. It is dust that most often causes overheating. Accumulating in the system unit, it complicates the operation of coolers that act as coolers. In the future, this situation leads to dust filling the ventilation holes and significant overheating of the PC.
In case of simultaneous use of 2 HDDs or more, they should be placed as far as possible from each other. The fact is that, being nearby, these devices heat up many times faster, as they provide so-called “mutual heating”. Thanks to this “divorce” of hard drives, you can reduce the temperature by 4-9 degrees and, thus, save on the purchase of an additional cooler.
In hot weather, you can use the following simple method: remove the side cover of the case and direct air flow from a regular home fan onto it. Helps in the fight against overheating remarkably, and all components at once.
Installing a cooler on a hard drive. This method of reducing temperature is quite effective and not too expensive, so almost anyone can use it without compromising their budget.
Check the functionality of all coolers and, if necessary, upgrade to new and more powerful ones.
If you have a laptop, you can spend a little money and purchase a ready-made cooling system in the form of a special stand. With its help, you can free all ventilation outlets, which are usually tightly closed by the surface of a sofa or table during work. Using such a simple device will reduce thermal values by 3-6 degrees.

Until the overheating problem is resolved, I do not recommend using programs that place a large load on the hard drive. For example, torrent, various defragmenters and other utilities that create load.

By the way, they are now selling very good PC cases with the ability to install a powerful cooling system (about 8-10 fans). By purchasing such a case, you will solve problems with overheating of all components.

Detailed video lesson

Professional help

If you were unable to resolve the problems yourself, then most likely the problem lies at a more technical level. This could be: a breakdown of the motherboard, power supply, hard drive, video card, RAM, etc.

It is important to diagnose and repair the breakdown in time to prevent failure of other components.

Our specialist will help you with this.

It's free and doesn't oblige you to anything. We will call you back within 30 minutes.

Good afternoon.

The hard drive is one of the most valuable pieces of hardware in any computer or laptop. The reliability of all files and folders directly depends on its reliability! The operating life of a hard drive is greatly influenced by the temperature to which it heats up during operation.

That is why it is necessary to monitor the temperature from time to time (especially in the hot summer) and, if necessary, take measures to reduce it. By the way, the temperature of the hard drive is influenced by many factors: the temperature of the room in which the PC or laptop operates; the presence of coolers (fans) in the system unit case; amount of dust; degree of load (for example, when a torrent is active, the load on the disk increases), etc.

In this article I want to talk about the most common questions (which I answer all the time...) related to HDD temperature. So, let's begin…

What to do in case of high temperature?

If you notice that the temperature of the components is quite high

, then the first thing you need to do is clean your computer (laptop) from dust, apply fresh thermal paste and, in some cases, add or replace the cooler. For example, it may be that you have a standard processor cooler and it does not cool a powerful processor so well in demanding games. In this case, you need to buy good cooling. You may also need an additional cooler in the case to remove heat!

I have already mentioned that the maximum temperature may differ for different components. Therefore, do not believe literally every word of mine that was voiced in the description of the maximum temperature for certain types of components. It's better to visit the official websites of the parts you use or read the forums, and I'm sure you'll find a lot of useful information there.

RESULTS

CPU temperature

At idle up to 40 At load up to 70

Video card temperature

At idle up to 40 At load up to 80 (90)

Hard drive temperature

On a computer up to 40 degrees On a laptop up to 50

The hard drive is the component that stores all the information on a computer. Therefore, the hard drive can be considered the most important component of a computer. In order to prevent loss of information from the hard drive, it is necessary to monitor its condition. One of the important parameters of a hard drive is its temperature. In this article we will talk about how to find out the temperature of your hard drive.

How to find out the temperature of your hard drive

In general, there are many ways and programs to find out the temperature of the hard drive. Personally, I recommend using some of the best utilities in the sector - Everest Ultimate (though it's paid) and Speccy

(free)
.
Speccy

Piriform Speccy - HDD and CPU temperature.

Great utility! Firstly, it supports the Russian language. Secondly, you can even find a portable version on the manufacturer’s website (a version that does not require installation). Thirdly, after starting, within 10-15 seconds you will be presented with all the information about the computer or laptop: including the temperature of the processor and hard drive. Fourthly, even the free version of the program has more than enough capabilities!

Everest Ultimate

Everest is an excellent utility that is highly desirable to have on every computer. In addition to temperature, you can find out information on almost any device or program. There is access to many sections that the average ordinary user will never get to using the Windows OS itself.

And so, to measure the temperature, launch the program and go to the “computer” section, then select the “sensor” tab.

EVEREST: you need to go to the “Sensor” section to determine the temperature of the components.

After a few seconds, you will see a plate with the temperature of the disk and processor, which will change in real time. This option is often used by those who want to overclock the processor and are looking for a balance between frequency and temperature.

EVEREST - hard drive temperature 41 degrees. Celsius, processor - 72 g.

1.1. Constant monitoring of HDD temperature

It’s even better if a separate utility monitors the temperature and the condition of the hard drive as a whole. Those. not a one-time launch and check as Everest or Speccy allow you to do this, but constant monitoring.

How to find out the HDD temperature and reduce it to the optimal value?

To find out exactly what temperature the hard drive is at the moment, you need to install one of the specialized programs. Next, you should track the change in the indicator depending on the conditions of use of the stored data. If the increase occurs while the HDD is actively operating, it is necessary to clean the system from dust. Accumulated particles prevent fans from cooling properly.

Removing dust from any type of PC is done carefully using soft brushes. When cleaning laptops, the use of hard brushes is unacceptable; it is recommended to use special low-power mini-vacuum cleaners. After the procedure, the temperature of the hard drive is checked again. If the indicator is still high, it is recommended to replace the fans or the old case with a new one with a small side mesh. This design is optimal for good ventilation of the entire circuit, but will require frequent cleaning. Sometimes a truly practical and useful cooling system can reduce the heating rate below the optimal level. The lowest hard drive temperature is approximately 22-28 degrees. And this can only be achieved by installing modern high-power coolers.

If the temperature of the hard drive remains high after the operations, the problem probably lies either in the sensor that determines the heating indicator, or in the hard drive itself. Both the first and second options require contacting a specialist who can check the component and addition. If the high temperature of the hard drive was associated with the thermometer, then it must be replaced. Otherwise, you will need to repair or install a new HDD. Using a faulty component will result in data loss.

After watching my video tutorial, many users ask me something like the following question: Is it normal for my computer or laptop to have a certain temperature?

In some cases, the temperature in their question is 40 degrees Celsius, and in some cases it is all 100.

In this lesson, let's deal with this issue and decide what to do if the temperature is very high.

First of all, let's figure out how to view the current temperature of the processor, video card and hard drives. For these purposes, I always recommend the AIDA64 program. Download it and install it.

After starting the program, we need to open the Computer section, then Sensors.

Here we are interested in the following lines:

CPU (processor) - 37 degrees. GPU DIODE (video card) – 33 degrees And what’s below are hard drives. In my case there are 3 of them. Temperature up to 30 degrees.

This temperature is when it is idle, that is, when we do not particularly load the computer with anything. To find out what the temperature will be under load, you need to go into a modern toy and play for 15 minutes. Then minimize the game window and immediately pay attention to the temperature in AIDA64 (the program, of course, must already be running before entering the game)

Now let's look at what temperature is normal

, and which is unacceptable and requires our intervention to solve problems.

Normal and critical HDD temperatures

Before talking about reducing the temperature, it is necessary to say a few words about the normal and critical temperature of hard drives.

The fact is that as the temperature rises, materials expand, which in turn is very undesirable for such a high-precision device as a hard drive.

In general, different manufacturers indicate slightly different operating temperature ranges. In general, a range of 30-45 g can be distinguished. Celsius is the most normal operating temperature for a hard drive.

Temperature 45 - 52 degrees. Celsius is not desirable. In general, there is no reason to panic, but it’s worth thinking about. Typically, if in winter the temperature of your hard drive is 40-45 degrees, then in the summer heat it can rise slightly, for example, up to 50 degrees. It’s worth, of course, thinking about cooling, but you can get by with simpler options: just open the system unit and point a fan at it (when the heat subsides, put everything back as it was). You can use a cooling pad for your laptop.

If the HDD temperature becomes more than 55 degrees. Celsius is a reason to worry, the so-called critical temperature! The service life of a hard drive is reduced by an order of magnitude at this temperature! Those. it will work 2-3 times less than at normal (optimal) temperature.

Temperature below 25 degrees. Celsius is also undesirable for a hard drive (although many believe that the lower the better, but this is not true. When cooled, the material contracts, which is not good for the operation of the disk). Although, if you do not resort to powerful cooling systems and do not place the PC in unheated rooms, then the operating temperature of the HDD usually never drops below this level.

What is the normal temperature of a hard drive and why should you monitor it?

Good afternoon, Dear Readers!
Let's touch on this issue - the question of hard drive temperature...
A hard drive , like almost any computer component, is subject to heating during operation.
With the advent of HDDs with 7200 rpm and higher, the heating problem became very acute. The hard drive is the most heat-sensitive component of a computer. What is important is that, as a rule, most of the user’s information is stored on the hard drive, and its loss can be a big problem or just a disaster!

Modern hard drives are equipped with temperature sensors, the cases have slots for mounting fans just opposite the hard drive bay, there are also special cooling systems for drives, etc. All this is designed to combat the most insidious enemy of the HDD - high temperature.

Why is heat harmful to the disk? Let's take a look at how temperature affects the hard drive and its components:

Magnetic disks - the disks themselves are made, as a rule, of glass and coated with a special magnetic layer. When the disk heats up, the material expands, changing the geometry and magnetic properties of the plate. Such physical damage leads to the formation of BAD sectors in which information is completely lost.

Heads are a very complex mechanical device that performs data read/write operations. The head hovers at a very short distance from the surface of the plates. Heating of the air inside the case, as well as expansion of the materials of both the disk and the head, increases the likelihood of the head touching the disks. In this case, there is a risk of completely losing information on the drive.

The head positioning system is a device responsible for moving the heads. Heating of this mechanism also leads to changes in its properties, and there is a risk of inaccurate positioning or even failure in the positioning of the head relative to the markings of the hard drive platters. The consequences, again, are loss of information.

The controller is an electronic system responsible for controlling the hard drive mechanisms and carrying out operations with data. An increase in the temperature of the controller chip can lead to its burnout. Of course, the data from magnetic disks will not physically disappear, but in order to restore the information, you will have to turn to the very expensive services of specialized laboratories for hard drive repair and data recovery.

Almost always the culprit is that the materials from which the HDD is made expand differently when heated...

The normal operating temperature range for a hard drive is 35-45 degrees. 50 degrees is considered an acceptable temperature, however, it is already elevated, and 60 degrees and above is an unacceptable temperature for the disk. In this case, you need to take immediate measures to cool the disk(s).

At 70 degrees and above, the disk usually fails immediately or after some short time of operation as a result of serious damage.

BUT!

Do not forget that not only high temperature as such is harmful, but also its drop .

During idle time, the disk temperature can be room temperature, for example, 22 degrees Celsius, and during operation it can reach 45-50 degrees! A big difference when we talk about such precise and fragile mechanisms as a hard drive!

Every time you turn your computer on or off, it results in a temperature change: a fairly sharp increase or cooling.

That is why it is often recommended, if possible, not to turn off your work computer at all (for example, if it is in your house in a separate room - an office and does not interfere with its noise or anything else) or at least to minimize the number of switching cycles /shutdown. It is for this reason – because of harm to hard drives.

The most optimal solution would be, for example, to turn on the computer in the morning and turn it off at night if constant work is not possible.

Even if the computer is idle, do not use functions such as turning off the hard drive after the nth number of minutes of inactivity. This does nothing to promote disk health!

In addition to temperature changes, the hard drive motor is subject to increased wear and tear because... it needs to regularly start and stop the spindle, which is the hardest job for the motor.

Therefore, always monitor the temperature of the hard drives in your PC! And if the temperature conditions do not fit into the norm, it is necessary to provide at least the simplest cooling for the HDD. For example, install a fan in the case opposite the drive bay. In most cases, this is enough.

To help you monitor the status of the HDD and more, for example, the free program SpeedFan will help.