Nas drive running hot, is this too hot?

[BobJ]

I have two similar NAS set ups. One is WD reds in raid 1 other is Toshiba 5TB in raid 1.

One of my toshibas runs hotter than the other. I swapped their position in the case and the same drive runs hotter, so its not a air flow issue its something about that drive that makes it run hotter. Maybe they forgot to lube the spindle

.

43c seems a bit warm and will cause that drive to fail sooner. Should I send this back under warranty before it fails? Is that enough of a difference for a return?

WD drives both run at 28c
Toshiba - one runs at 36c other at 43c

 

[Bidule0hm]

Maybe it's just the sensor calibration. If you put your hand on one of the Toshiba and then the other, is there any big difference? because 36 and 43 °C should feel very different to the touch.

 

[BobJ]

Maybe it's just the sensor calibration. If you put your hand on one of the Toshiba and then the other, is there any big difference? because 36 and 43 °C should feel very different to the touch.

Good question and the answer is YES. I ignored it at first but then opened the case and felt the drives and the 43c one does feel warmer.

 

[Bidule0hm]

Well, then there's some weird thing going on. I'd not trust this drive, but at the same time it's not really a valid reason to use the warranty, at least for the vendor, so I don't think you can sent it back but you can always try.

 

[BobJ]

Well, then there's some weird thing going on. I'd not trust this drive, but at the same time it's not really a valid reason to use the warranty, at least for the vendor, so I don't think you can sent it back but you can always try.

Yes there is more friction in that drive causing heat, or possibly a chip in the drive that is producing it. They can run hot but when I looked up failure rates. There was a graph of failure rates vs temp of drives. And past 36c the rates definitely went up.

So it might not fail anytime soon but its like driving two cars. One car you change the oil every 4,000 miles and the other you change every 15,000 mile. They both will probably make 100k but the one of them will burn less oil have have less engine wear.

Me I am the guy that changes the oil sooner, I do preventative maintenance if possible.

 

[Ericloewe]

Wow, that's a big variance. No other noticeable issues? Degraded performance...?

 

[BobJ]

I just looked up the specs
Operating temp range
Ambient Temperature (°C) 0°C to 60°C

So even though its hotter its still within temp specs.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Toshiba/MD04ACA500/

 

[Ericloewe]

I just looked up the specs
Operating temp range
Ambient Temperature (°C) 0°C to 60°C

So even though its hotter its still within temp specs.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Toshiba/MD04ACA500/

Don't really trust those numbers. At 60 degrees Celsius, it'll be a miracle if the drive works normally.

 

[Bidule0hm]

Yep, real operating temp range is 20 to 40 °C and ideally you want to stay between 30 and 35 °C ;)

 

[BobJ]

Yep, real operating temp range is 20 to 40 °C and ideally you want to stay between 30 and 35 °C ;)

Well they are 5TB drives which run hotter than smaller drives by default. It is within their spec temp range, and well under the 60c limit so I don't really have a leg to stand on in terms of doing a return.

 

[SweetAndLow]

Well they are 5TB drives which run hotter than smaller drives by default. It is within their spec temp range, and well under the 60c limit so I don't really have a leg to stand on in terms of doing a return.

I'm not sure size of drive has anything to do with temp. I thought that speed of drive affects temps much more than. Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

 

[DrKK]

I'm not sure size of drive has anything to do with temp. I thought that speed of drive affects temps much more than. Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

My only thoughts are: I don't care what the spec sheet says. Everyone on the planet knows that you can't run drives at 43C and not have their longevity and reliability greatly reduced. 43C is way way way past what I would be comfortable with for 24/7 operation.
The Toshiba 5TB drives are 7200 RPM I believe, so we would expect those to run a bit hotter than WD Reds, but over 40C is out of the question. At least for me.

 

[ChriZ]

I believe that specs are not that relevant in this case.
The most relevant fact is that two identical drives in the same chassis with the same airflow, operate with a 7 degree difference.
This 'must' be a valid reason to contact their support.

 

[Ericloewe]

Larger drives tend to run hotter since they typically require more platters to reach their capacities, which means more power and thus more heat.

 

[DrKK]

I believe that specs are not that relevant in this case.
The most relevant fact is that two identical drives in the same chassis with the same airflow, operate with a 7 degree difference.
This 'must' be a valid reason to contact their support.

I agree with this. The 7 degree difference, especially since you did the experiment with the proper control, indicates that the hotter of the two drives presumably has some kind of friction problem.

But here's the thing---there's no one you're going to call over there that's smart enough to understand what you're saying. And in any case, at least 99.1% of the people calling them are morons who have no idea what they're talking about, so anyone picking up the phone over there to RMA these drives will probably be stupid, *and* think you're stupid. So that seems like a fool's errand to try to figure this out. Good luck to you though. I'd just try to RMA the drives, straight up, without spending a lot of effort trying to explain yourself.

 

[random003]

I would not worry about the temperature. It is within spec. If you RMA that drive you will probably get a refurbished drive back from the manufacturer that is in worse condition than your original drive.

Just keep an eye on the smart data of the drive and RMA it when it starts to show signs of failure.

 

[Bidule0hm]

Yeah, no, not really, see this post for example: https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...unning-hot-is-this-too-hot.37025/#post-226197

 

[DrKK]

I would not worry about the temperature. It is within spec. If you RMA that drive you will probably get a refurbished drive back from the manufacturer that is in worse condition than your original drive.

Just keep an eye on the smart data of the drive and RMA it when it starts to show signs of failure.

I don't agree. The anomaly of 7-8 degrees C under identical cooling plant conditions is a significant finding, and there is no situation whatsoever in which any of us would recommend running NAS drives in a >40C unit temperature universe. Something serious is probably wrong with that drive. I don't know about you, but I do not run any drive in any NAS that I do not have confidence in. Maybe you have a higher tolerance for a dodgy drive than I do.

But random003 is correct: you *are* going to get a refurbished drive, almost certainly, if you RMA this drive. And that's a bit disappointing, because you paid for a virgin drive.

 

[solarisguy]

Also, with refurbished drives and some manufacturers your warranty might get shorter.

For all the parts I intend to use longer than a year, I buy extended warranty that guarantees I receive a brand new drive (or whatever the part is) as a replacement.