Topic: harddisk gets too hot

[hansces]

Hi,

I am using esmith 5.6.
I have just upgraded to a mini-itx machine whoch runs fine. Cloned my own machine with mondo.

The thing that amazes me is how hot the hard-disk gets.
It does not really do that much and already really gets hot.

How can I see what the disk is doing?
How can I make it less hot?
Can this be an dma problem of some sort?

greetings

Hans-Cees

[Reinhold]

Hi hans,

>>I have just upgraded to a mini-itx machine whoch runs fine. Cloned my own machine with mondo.

Congrats ...didn't even know that 5.6 would run the troublemaking chips namely the network-chip .-)
BUT ... please change to 6.x if you open your box to the world !!!


>> the hard-disk ... does not really do that much and already really gets hot.
Modern harddisks (60-300 Gigabyte) all draw around 6 watts ... usually they do not get hotter than around 40-45 deg C.  -  if you do have enough ventilation in your box then something is wrong.

>>How can I see what the disk is doing?
"ps"
(short for Process Status. That command displays the currently running processes on Unix/Linux systems)

>>How can I make it less hot?
fan-cooling .-) ?

>>Can this be an dma problem of some sort?
Nothing is IMpossible but that's unlikely
DMA makes things FASTER - only hotter when you have the hd working for a llllllooooong time.

regards
reinhold

[hanscees]

>>I have just upgraded to a mini-itx machine whoch runs fine. Cloned my own machine with mondo.

Congrats ...didn't even know that 5.6 would run the troublemaking chips namely the network-chip .-)

surprised me too.

BUT ... please change to 6.x if you open your box to the world !!!

I have all the updates installed. Only port 80 and 25 are open. What is fixed in 6.x then?


>> the hard-disk ... does not really do that much and already really gets hot.
Modern harddisks (60-300 Gigabyte) all draw around 6 watts ... usually they do not get hotter than around 40-45 deg C.  -  if you do have enough ventilation in your box then something is wrong.

Hmm. I will try to measure how hot he is.



>>How can I see what the disk is doing?
"ps"
(short for Process Status. That command displays the currently running processes on Unix/Linux systems)

Yes I know. I will try vmstat I think.



>>How can I make it less hot?
fan-cooling .-) ?

I was thinking more in suspending i/o when possible.

>>Can this be an dma problem of some sort?
Nothing is IMpossible but that's unlikely
DMA makes things FASTER - only hotter when you have the hd working for a llllllooooong time.

ok

greetings

Hans-Cees

[ryan]

Ihansces,

I too have run into this problem with IPCop using the transparent proxy turned on.  In my situation, the server crashed w/ a kernel panic.  Google and bios said it was the hard drive.  Within minutes, the server was apart.  The hard drive was too hot to hold on to for more than a 10 seconds!!  I could not believe how hot it got.

The circulation on this PC was none for the hard drive zone and disk i/o with a proxy server is very high.  

I fixed this heat problem with a 19 dollar removeable hard drive case that installs in an open CD-ROM/Expansion slot.  This device has a built in fan.  I have seen these removeable cases in IT type classrooms where students are assigned hard drives that are stored in a locked cabinet.  They make your hard drive "cold swapable".  

This might help solve your problem.

ryan

[shanen]

I have found maxtor serial hard disks to run very hot in most boxes with all operating systems, so it may just be the drive.
Stick with a slower drive as the users may not notice the extra 1/1000000 second.
Or take Ryans suggestion on board.

[smeghead]

More info on the exact system setup would be good; particularly what mobo. cpu and case.

If the case is lacking ventilation around the hdd there are a few options depending on the size of the case.

The heat in a HDD come primarily from the drive motor bearing and the friction of the air against the spining disk platters.

I have had success with a HDD fan mounted underneath the drive that is designed specifically for this job.  You caould use a laptop HDD with an adaptor; these drives spin slower and are designed to work in locations where the ventilation is limited.

If the case has a fan at he rear but no inlets near the HDD then add some (careful not to mess with the cauflow in the case too much or other stuff could overheat.

HTH