Are my hard drives running hot?
May 23rd, 2007Question: How can I tell, without opening my PC up, if my hard drives are running hot?
The best hard drive monitor that I’ve tried is from a company called PassMark Software and it’s called DiskCheckup .
PassMark DiskCheckup™ allows the user to monitor the SMART attributes of a particular hard disk drive. SMART ( Self Monitoring Analysis & Reporting Technology ) is an interface between a computer's BIOS (basic input/output system) and the computer hard disk. It is a feature of the Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics (EIDE) technology that controls access to the hard drive. If S.M.A.R.T is enabled when a computer is set up, the BIOS can receive analytical information from the hard drive and determine whether to send the user a warning message about possible future failure of the hard drive.
SMART monitors elements of possible long term drive failure, such as 'Spin Up Time', the number of start/stops, the number of hours powered on and the hard disk temperature.
DiskCheckup displays the current values of the SMART attributes, along with the Threshold value for that attribute. If any attribute value is close to or below the threshold, the drive is no longer reliable and should be replaced.
If your drives start to edge towards 65°C then it’s time to see if you can cool things down a bit (check the fans, clear out the dust, reposition the drives …).
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