Temperature Limits and Drive Cooling

Hard disks can only be counted upon to perform reliably if they are kept within their specified temperature ranges. Cooling has become one of the most important considerations for reliability, particularly for drives running at high spindle speeds. See this discussion of cooling in the section on hard disk quality for more.

Save for drives used in server environments, hard drives rely on passive cooling methods. As long as there is some airflow around the drive (either through breathing holes in the case or a fan blowing air over them), a consumer hard drive should not need extra cooling.

When trying to keep a hot drive within operating parameters, the most important first step is to address the cooling of the case overall. It's essential that the fan(s) are functioning properly and have sufficient capacity for the case. The PC must not be operated in a very hot room or placed where it will be excessively heated (for example, in direct sunlight or right next to a heater). The case should not be too small for the number of devices it contains. Hard drives should also be spaced to allow proper air flow over them--putting two drives very close together is not a good idea (unless there is sufficient airflow).

There is a such thing as hard drive coolers, however they are very rare and for good reason -- they are unnecessary. As long as the internals of a desktop are designed intelligently, the hard disks should be fine on their own.

The hard drive bay in a notebook computer is usually always passively-cooled and has breathing holes for air to pass in and out. 2.5" notebook drives have higher heat tolerances than 3.5" desktop drives for good reason -- they get hotter because they are in a much smaller space and additionally are exposed to many different environments as portable devices.

Next: Retail and OEM Packaging