Hard drive temps

[GirlGamer55]

I'v posted on here before how my hard drive runs at a very high temp...well now that winter is here it's not running hot...it's cold...very cold. I started my PC up today and heard a horrible wurring sound...pretty sure it's the hard drive. I opened up Speccy as soon as I could and it said the hard drive was at 20c. Given that it's usually 40-50...pretty cold but I did just turn it on. I know my room is very cold...I have a shitty heater in here so I'm freezing my ass off. I just don't know if the cold made the hard drive do that wurring sound. At 25c it stopped wurring...or around that area. Right now it's 29c and running normal.

Also I haven't been looking at the temp lately so idk if it still gets up to 40-50. I'll keep an eye on it..but maybe one of you can tell me if that wurring was just a cold hard drive?

[Ziggy]

Well I can't tell you what that sound you heard was, but I can tell you this: As a rule of thumb, any electronic device should be allowed to warm up to room temp (70-something degrees F) before being turned on.

If it's colder than room temp in your room then try and fix that (seal drafts and get a better heater). If it's a desktop computer, can you just leave it run 24/7? Or at least allow it to sleep instead of shutting it off or hibernating? That way it wont ever become too cold, and it'll also heat your room a little too! That might sound like sarcasm, but my desktop helps heat my room nicely in the winter, while I have to hibernate it during the summer.

[GirlGamer55]

Well I can't tell you what that sound you heard was, but I can tell you this: As a rule of thumb, any electronic device should be allowed to warm up to room temp (70-something degrees F) before being turned on.

If it's colder than room temp in your room then try and fix that (seal drafts and get a better heater). If it's a desktop computer, can you just leave it run 24/7? Or at least allow it to sleep instead of shutting it off or hibernating? That way it wont ever become too cold, and it'll also heat your room a little too! That might sound like sarcasm, but my desktop helps heat my room nicely in the winter, while I have to hibernate it during the summer.

Well I don't think letting it run is a great idea, right now it's 42 c just surfing the web. I did leave it just idling on the desktop for a few hours and came back to find it was at 40 c. I just don't want it to spike up to 50 or so and ruin the hard drive, and I also don't want to turn that desktop fan on because I don't think it should be blowing cold air during winter...might chill it down to much.

As for my room idk...i'm looking into getting a better heater...if nothing else a space heater but idk how much more I can do. My parents are trying to save money on heat so they use a pellet stove downstairs and don't ever turn the heat on which leaves me (upstairs) freezing my ass off. I have a stupid tiny ass in the wall electric heater that "supposedly" goes up to 80 f, it's cranked all the way up and i'm still cold as fuck. The room is sealed I think...I can feel cold air near the windows but that's kinda normal right?

[isiolia]

Most parts of your PC will be fine at cold temperatures, if not optimal.

HDDs are actually an exception. As I may have linked to the last time you'd mentioned heat issues, Google did a study a few years back. Upper 30s/low 40s Celsius was the best general range in their tests.

I'd go with just leaving it on as well, but then, that's what I do with my PCs anyway . Most likely, if temperatures did start to spike, the PC would ramp up its fans to compensate.

[CRTGAMER]

Agree with others maybe use the sleep mode for the cold room. In the buffered state the warm chips might ward off any condensation problems inside the electricals.

[jay_red]

One thing is for sure, if you think your drive is making noises, back it up asap!

[TSTR]

One thing is for sure, if you think your drive is making noises, back it up asap!

+1. Noises = never good. I would work on trying to back up stuff because of that before worrying about temperatures.

[isiolia]

Some drives click n' such normally. Should back stuff up regardless.

[samsonlonghair]

[Ziggy]

The room is sealed I think...I can feel cold air near the windows but that's kinda normal right?

No, if you feel cold air around your windows then your windows are leaking cold air into your room. With a computer on and running, and any kind of space heater running, your room should not be cold. If you have a TV running, then even more so. I would look into fixing your window(s). There's three easy things I can suggest.

One, assuming they're horizontal and not vertical, look at the bottom of your window pane (typically the part that you move up to open) and inspect the insulation strip. If it's worn, it needs replacing. If it's not worn, close the window and check that it's a tight seal. Some windows have to be locked to seal correctly. If it's not a tight seal, you can buy adhesive strips to put on there.

Two, if the window seals shut properly but you're still feeling cold air, check all around the window. An easy, quick and cheap solution is one of those kits that seal the entire window up. Examples:





It's basically just heat shrinkable plastic and double sided tape. You put the tape around your entire window, then peel off the other adhesive side and put the plastic up, then hold a blow dryer to it to make it nice and tight. It works pretty well, actually.

The third thing, you can't really do right now, is that expanding insulation shit.

You're suppose to use it when it's relatively warm outside though, so you'd have to wait until the spring to do it properly. It's also something you don't wanna rush doing, you have to consider how much your putting in and how much it'll expand. It's basically like superglue when it dries, and it will ruin your walls, window, and windowsill. You wanna tape everything off while it's expanding. But if done correctly, it's pretty effective.

All of this stuff can be bought at any local hardware store.

One thing is for sure, if you think your drive is making noises, back it up asap!

+1. Noises = never good. I would work on trying to back up stuff because of that before worrying about temperatures.

Some drives click n' such normally. Should back stuff up regardless.

Yeah, some drives can just be noisy. I have this one drive that day one sounded like something I never wanna hear from a HDD. I was about to exchange it actually. But it's been some years now and I've never had a problem with it. It's just a noisy ass drive.

But yeah, you should back your stuff up regardless.

You can check the SMART values of the HDD to see if anything failed.