hdd temperature 67C high?

**duruttye** · January 27th, 2010

domelaci@kucko:~$ sudo hddtemp /dev/sda
/dev/sda: WDC WD1200BEVT-75ZCT2: 65°C

domelaci@kucko:~$ uptime
02:13:25 up 58 min, 3 users, load average: 0.03, 0.07, 0.08

the load average is nowhere at all and it is a laptop! I guess laptops operate on higher temperatures, due to restricted space...

**duruttye** · January 28th, 2010

Is there a diagnostic tool for hard drives?
And maybe someone who can interpret the results?

I run smartmontools, but there is nothing written in red

, so as far as I can tell, nothing is wrong, but hey:

$ sudo hddtemp /dev/sda
/dev/sda: WDC WD1200BEVT-75ZCT2: 60°C

**duruttye** · January 28th, 2010

Just for the fun of it, and in case someone is wondering

sudo smartctl -s on -a /dev/sda
smartctl version 5.38 [i686-pc-linux-gnu] Copyright (C) 2002-8 Bruce Allen
Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Device Model: WDC WD1200BEVT-75ZCT2
Serial Number: WD-WXE908PH4846
Firmware Version: 11.01A11
User Capacity: 120,034,123,776 bytes
Device is: Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall]
ATA Version is: 8
ATA Standard is: Exact ATA specification draft version not indicated
Local Time is: Thu Jan 28 12:38:35 2010 EET
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF ENABLE/DISABLE COMMANDS SECTION ===
SMART Enabled.

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status: (0x84) Offline data collection activity
was suspended by an interrupting command from host.
Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.
Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed
without error or no self-test has ever
been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection: (4800) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
Suspend Offline collection upon new
command.
Offline surface scan supported.
Self-test supported.
Conveyance Self-test supported.
Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
power-saving mode.
Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported.
General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 59) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 5) minutes.
SCT capabilities: (0x303f) SCT Status supported.
SCT Feature Control supported.
SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x002f 200 200 051 Pre-fail Always - 0
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0027 159 159 021 Pre-fail Always - 1033
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 906
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 200 200 140 Pre-fail Always - 0
7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x002e 100 253 000 Old_age Always - 0
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 097 097 000 Old_age Always - 2900
10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 897
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 67
193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 198 198 000 Old_age Always - 6065
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 082 072 000 Old_age Always - 61
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0030 200 200 000 Old_age Offline - 0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate 0x0008 200 200 000 Old_age Offline - 0
240 Head_Flying_Hours 0x0032 097 097 000 Old_age Always - 2886
241 Unknown_Attribute 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 2138446911
242 Unknown_Attribute 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 2186458488

SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error
# 1 Conveyance offline Completed without error 00% 2880 -
# 2 Short offline Completed without error 00% 2880 -
# 3 Short offline Interrupted (host reset) 80% 360 -
# 4 Short offline Completed without error 00% 101 -
# 5 Short offline Completed without error 00% 0 -

SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
1 0 0 Not_testing
2 0 0 Not_testing
3 0 0 Not_testing
4 0 0 Not_testing
5 0 0 Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

I'm the best

**skymera** · January 28th, 2010

Western Digital says this about the drive

Code:

 Temperature (Metric)
	Operating	-0° C to 60° C
	Non-operating	-40° C to 65° C

So they suggest 60c being max, which means something seems wrong with yours. But it's figuring out what

Personal note: backup

**duruttye** · January 28th, 2010

where did you get that?

**skymera** · January 28th, 2010

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=514

Under the "Specs" tab further down.

**cascade9** · January 28th, 2010

Originally Posted by SuperSonic4

Depends on your BIOS. My BIOS shuts down at around 85C I think but running it hot will reduce its life

AFAIK, BIOS will only shutdown if your CPU temp hits 85C, it doesnt care about HDD temps.

From the specs that skymera posted, I would be doing a through check on that machine. Maybe think about taking the HDD cover off, and check that it is not full of dust? Or you could get a 'laptop cooler', some laptops will always have hot drives, it really depends on the layout and how much, if any, ventilation there is for the HDD.

**duruttye** · January 31st, 2010

Hey there!

Thank you all for your replies.
I posted this problem on the Dell forums, and there were two guys, who agreed, that I will have to start backing up data as of yesterday.
Right now I'm writing dvd-s like mad, hoping that it will last until I'm finished. The good news is, that the laptop is still in warranty, but I will have to send it in another town and wait for a few weeks. It is sad that the drive will fail after a year of use.
When I finish backing up my data, I will format the drive and install an XP on it (for the first time since 2006) just to see the temperatures using windows.

Take care, and thank you for your support!
Long live the ubuntu forums!

**nhasian** · February 1st, 2010

i have two 7200rpm 2.5" hard disks in my 17" HP laptop. I use the Palimpsest Disk Utility in System->Administration to check the status of my drives (installed by default in 9.10 karmic)
my primary hard disk temp is 53C but since your WD Scorpio Blue hard disk is only 5400rpm it should run even cooler.

I dont see why you have to send your laptop anywhere. One of my drives failed after only 2 months and HP mailed me an advanced replacement hard disk (they had to hold onto my credit card number till i returned the defective drive) but then i just replaced the drive myself. two screws at the bottom of the case. easy as cake. Hopefully you never have to replace the fan in your laptop. that requires some major surgery.

PS maybe you can pay the difference and get a solid state drive that would be worth the upgrade

Originally Posted by duruttye

The good news is, that the laptop is still in warranty, but I will have to send it in another town and wait for a few weeks. It is sad that the drive will fail after a year of use.

**duruttye** · February 1st, 2010

In the following days I will contact the local representatives of DELL to see what I have to do, maybe they will ship me a replacement drive too, I don't know yet.
Anyway, the drive is performing as normal, no problems yet... Although it doesn't hurt to be prepared, right? I wonder what happens to people who don't care, or don't know how to check stuff on their machines...

Right now, the drive is in heavy usage, due to dvd writing, but the temp is not rising above 56C.
And I'm gonna take the laptop apart tomorrow, to see what's inside, maybe there is some dusk piled up in there, or something...

Anyway, I'm gonna have to wait it out.
Thank you guys!