My WD Black runs at 56c - is this too warm?

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Foxhack

Limp Gawd
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Feb 27, 2012
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How hot can the WD Black drives get? I have one I bought in September 2009 (a WD6401AALS 640GB) which currently goes up to 54c when doing its thing - it runs hotter than the other drives in my system, but I have no idea if that's supposed to be normal. I was thinking of replacing it with another WD Black (because of the warranty) but do they all run that hot now?

The drive isn't failing or anything like that. WD's site says the drive is supposed to run up to 60c (according to this page so am I overreacting or should I be worried?
 
That sounds pretty normal to me. I have a few external drives that regularly reach between 50-60c at load. It worried me at first, until I saw other externals do the same.

Just make sure it's optimized for coolest airflow, in open air and with vents pointing upward (i.e. not buried in carpet or stacked underneath other devices). I have an older linksys router that gets a wee bit hot, so I've tilted it against the wall so the heat can dissipate upward more easily.
 
It's currently inside my computer, open case, with no airflow at all - I'm still not done organizing the wiring on this thing and the intake fan that's in front of the drives is not turned on.

Still, the drives next to it are at 42c... so I was really worried. I'll change its place in the hard drive cage so the heat can escape properly. Thanks.

Edit: Turning on the AC bumped down the heat to 49c. Phew.
 
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Add some active cooling to the drive?
I have a 2TB FASS 4 platter that idles around 31C and during long read/writes hits around 40C.

WD states 55C is the max for their black drives so your maxing it out/ giving it an early grave.
 
Foxhack said:
It's currently inside my computer, open case, with no airflow at all - I'm still not done organizing the wiring on this thing and the intake fan that's in front of the drives is not turned on.

Still, the drives next to it are at 42c... so I was really worried. I'll change its place in the hard drive cage so the heat can escape properly. Thanks.

Edit: Turning on the AC bumped down the heat to 49c. Phew.
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They are not green drives. They run warmer than most. I would highly suggest actively cooling it, especially if you have multiple hard drives clustered.
 
I moved the hard drives around - I placed the SSD at the top, the two other drives under it, one empty slot, and the WD Black at the bottom. I also (finally) turned on the intake fan I installed in the front of the case, right in front of the drives.

My drives are operating at 36c max now, and the Black is at around 40-43c. I believe that the WD Black being sandwiched between the two other drives made its temperature go up.

I still intend to replace one of the other two drives eventually, but this'll do for now. Thanks for the help!
 
Foxhack said:
I moved the hard drives around - I placed the SSD at the top, the two other drives under it, one empty slot, and the WD Black at the bottom. I also (finally) turned on the intake fan I installed in the front of the case, right in front of the drives.

My drives are operating at 36c max now, and the Black is at around 40-43c. I believe that the WD Black being sandwiched between the two other drives made its temperature go up.

I still intend to replace one of the other two drives eventually, but this'll do for now. Thanks for the help!
Click to expand...

For some hard info on drive temps, have a look at the Google study on drive failures - they found that above (and below!) a certain temperature range failure % increased.
 
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