Hard Drives and Cold Weather

[icedragn]

I'm wanting to use an old P4 1.8ghz pc as a shop (garage) computer, it would be quite handy for inventory of tools and using a wireless card you can go online and get help with repairs.

Now, the main questions is cold, I'm up in northern ontario and it can go as low as -40C (or lower... but RARELY, and ONLY with wind-chill :p), and on average we probably have -15C weather. So will this damage the hard drive? My plan was to start the fire in the garage and get it up to a warm level and then, and only then, turn the computer on and hit the pause button at the bios screen which would allow for the hard drive to spin without reading and thus create some internal heat, let that spin for a good 5 minutes and then resume and boot to windows.

Does anyone see any problems with this? I mean even with the garage at above 0 temps the computers internals will still most likely be frozen, especially below -15...

This is a spare computer, again, and i have a couple spare hard drives for it so unless it's like 99% going to damage the hard drive within a month of use, then i'll most likely try it out, otherwise i will just sell the system for a couple hundred bucks and pocket that. Thanks!

[tuskenraider]

Well based on WD's info, their hard drives shouldn't operate(be started) under 35° F or so. They can only be "stored" as low as -40° F. So, bad idea I'd say. Maybe you could put it on a mobile cart to bring in and out of the garage.

[Dice]

In the A+ Technician textbook I have been studying, it states something along the lines of "Allow a PC to return to room temperature before booting."

In this case, I don't think the author was considering that your 'room temperature' is colder then my freezer temperature. I know that every HDD has suggested operating temps and you can either find that info in the manufacturer's website or in the documentation.

If your HDD manufacturer warranty will be voided by sub-zero ambient temperature, you could use a LiveCD version of Linux to boot, and allow the computer to heat the PC up to operating temperature, while checking your webmail, or other online stuff. Also consider using HDD space on an inside-the-house PC over the network.

[icedragn]

ok, so basically just take the hard drive in and out of the garage? ^^

[JamesXP]

Funny you should mention this after we came back from holiday it was around 35F/2c in the house, my dads computer when you turned it on, kinda went 'Jerrrrg' we had to let the room warm up before it would boot :(

[Trap05]

Yeah thats very bad for the drive

[CGR]

Just an FYI on this, when you have electronic components delivered and they leave them at your door on a cold day, ALWAYS let them warm up to room temp before you install or turn them on. You are asking for a lot of trouble if you dont.

[nd4spdbh2]

Just an FYI on this, when you have electronic components delivered and they leave them at your door on a cold day, ALWAYS let them warm up to room temp before you install or turn them on. You are asking for a lot of trouble if you dont.

you kno i never really thought of that... never really had the problem tho as SoCal is usually pretty mild.

OP you might want to look into a CF to ide and using a 4gb cf card and a "nlited" xp instead of a hd.

I have run an hd or two over their max thermal spec from time to time... but never under the minimum... heck i have an old maxtor 10gb hd that i encased in 4inches of dense foam then proceeded to install windows xp... being the super fast drive that it is it took ~ an hr to get up and running... then i rememberd maybe i should like see if its hot... so i touched it and ended up getting burned! FROM A HD!... i swear that damn hard drive is bulled proof, its still living today after that abuse, after running a cs server for a yr striaght 24/7, and after me puttin an acrylic top on it (during the procees of which i wiped off dust off the top platter with a qtip!)... OH and cant forget its 5 yr duty in an HP machine. lol

[Oc1Kenube]

Buy an external hard drive or buy a 4 or 8gb flash pen drive and put windows on that. Also be careful as condensation may be a problem