Need advice about HHD foambox

[The Coolest]

I have a HD that won't work in cold, when its cold, it just makes some high pitch noise and corrupts data, so I made a foam box w/ 5 sides, the sixth is missing because its the cable side. yesterday afternoon I put the drive in the box and let it run, when I powered down the machine b4 I went to bed, I open the case and touched the HDD, it pretty hot, I would say 30+C I wonder, how can I keep the HD a bit cooler, but still hot enough to work. it starts to make noise at temps that are lower than 20C or so, what can u suggest?

 

[The Coolest]

BUMP

 

[drunkmonkey]

uuhhhh, slice up the foam box to show more surface area of the hd..

It corrupts data when cold?!?!? thats really wierd.

 

[Diggrr]

I'd say uncover the bottom of the harddrive. The chips on the bottom pcb are the parts most vulnerable to heat, the metal sections are the most vulnerable to cold because they transfer the cold to the motor and armature (moving parts are what doesn't like the cold)

If your drive still has cold problems, then try covering the bottom back up with a different material to balance the drive temps, like cardboard or maybe aluminum(not touching!)
You'll still run into cold problems at startup until the drive warms up, unless it's on 24/7.

If the drive has a s.m.a.r.t. feature, you may be able to get a program from the drive maker that can monitor temps. IBM's software unfortunately will only read in a DOS environment (boot disk...one more way for IBM to make life difficult).

Good luck to ya.

 

[Kingslayer]

Exactly how cold is this drive getting?!?! The only thing that could cause these kinds of problems and being cold is the fluid bearings in the drive gumming up, but you have to be sub-freezing for that to happen....

 

[The Coolest]

I would guess that the ambient temp was around 15-18 not sure exactly.
The drive is WD 4.3GB UDMA, can't remember the exact model right now tho.
I think its S.M.A.R.T (BTW, how do I interprit that? ) capable. but don't know what software can be downloaded for this, the option is turned on in the BIOS.
I know, it has a rough cold start, but it gets OK, almost immidiatly.
when b4 it didn't.
I also though about removing the buttom. I'll do that tommorow morning, I don't want to have any down time ATM, running F@H

Thanks for all the suggestions and info

 

[Kingslayer]

Ok...Next stupid question...why is your hard drive that cold?

Look into the manufacturers opertional temp range and I would bet your below it.

 

[Kingslayer]

This is what I have found.

Operational Temp. 5º C to 55º C (41ºF to 131ºF)

NOW. This is for todays newer drives. I would imagine you are pushing the envelope on that dinosaur of a drive. Keep in mind after 5 years of use the fluid probably has some viscosity issues and it more than likely gumming up when it gets that cold.

In my opinion this is what is causing the noise and the data corruption. Makes sense to me...

 

[The Coolest]

OK, I cut on side of, and put the HDD buttoms up, and when I first fired it up, it didn't make any noise... I hope that if it's upside down it'll be OK