All computers and electronic gadgets produce excess heat. Why? Because the sensitive electronics inside your computer are continuously working. Heavy usage, such as video editing or gaming, consumes more power and generates even more heat.
The hard drive needs cooling to function properly. They, like any other component of your computer, become hot. When placed in an airtight enclosure in a room with no sufficient ventilation, it will overheat. Excessive heat is detrimental to hard drives. It can harm electrical components and, because it causes parts to expand in size, it can cause the drive’s head to collide with its platters, resulting in a ‘head crash.’
Overheating is one of the most common causes of hard drive failure. Continue reading to find out more about the topic.
What Causes Hard Drives To Overheat?
Interestingly, heat causes hard drives to overheat. Common causes of hard drive overheating include: Blocked Air Flow – Air must be able to flow into the computer so that the fans may do their jobs. Check that nothing is blocking the airflow to the vents.
When the hard drive overheats, delicate and critical components are jeopardized. When exposed to excessive heat, sections of the circuit board may burn or melt, making it difficult to read or write data to the drive. Prolonged high temperatures will also shorten the life of a hard disc.
What Happens To A Hard Drive When It Overheats?
Heat causes electrical components to degrade and potentially fail. There are several parts of a hard drive that can fail as a result of being overexposed to heat, including the part that actually stores data.
Because metals are a major component of the drives, they can expand as a result of heat. This can cause all of the data on a hard drive, which is written into metal discs known as platters, to grow and contract. They have the potential to damage other components and perhaps cause a head collision.
How To Know If Your Hard Drive Is Overheating?
If the temperature of your laptop, desktop PC, Mac, or external hard drive is too high, you will notice certain performance concerns. You may notice one or more of the following symptoms:
- Programs take a long time to load.
- Opening files takes a long time.
- It takes a long time for your gadget to wake up from sleep or stand by.
- There is a lag between the input and the action (e.g., your computer does not immediately respond to mouse clicks or there is a noticeable delay between your keyboard strokes and seeing them appear on screen)
- Lag and performance concerns when watching films or playing games,
- Clicking noise as the computer runs and the fans turn and sound louder than usual.
How To Keep Your Hard Drives Cool?
Here are some tips to keep your drive cool;
Make Sure There Is Good Ventilation
Even if the hard drive does not have good built-in ventilation, you can situate it in areas where it will get maximum ventilation. Place it on hard, flat surfaces that are free of carpeting, cloth, or other obstructions. This will help airflow around the drive’s chassis and allow it to keep as cool as possible.
Take Note Of The Temperature and Usage
When a hard drive is used in an already warm or humid environment, it is more prone to overheating. If you need to use your gadget on a very hot day, keep this in mind and attempt to limit your usage accordingly.
If you’re the type of user who frequently has multiple programs and files open at once, you’re pushing your hard drive to its maximum and increasing the possibility of it overheating.
Consider if you need to have so many windows open at once when using your computer. If you do, strive to complete your tasks as soon as possible.
Clean The Vents
Dust accumulates in vents over time. This restricts both air movement and the ability of your fan to cool down your device’s internal components, including your hard drive. Simply purchase a can of compressed air and use it to clean the vents on your gadget once a month. This will significantly reduce the risk of your hard disc overheating.
Consider New Cooling Solutions
Laptop users can utilize laptop stands with built-in cooling fans that are powered by USB. These provide additional cooling and lift the laptop from the surface, enabling some air movement beneath the device.
Additional fans or water-cooled systems can be purchased by PC users. Water cooling is often more expensive than fans, but it provides excellent cooling. It’s also preferable because it’s quieter, but it’s normally reserved for high-end PCs and gaming systems, which are already expensive.
Many computer stores sell specialized fans and cooling solutions for hard drives and SSDs installed inside PC cases.
Always Back Up Your Drive
Keeping your hard drive cool will certainly help to keep your computer running smoothly and reduce the risk of data loss, but the importance of backing up your data to a separate piece of storage media cannot be understated.
Backing up your data doesn’t need to be expensive either. Yes, if you have terabytes of data you need to protect, you’re going to need a piece of storage media capable of storing it but, if you’re able to identify your key files, you’d be surprised just how little a pen drive capable of storing a few 100 Gigabytes costs.
Thus, keep your hard drive cold, but don’t forget to back up your data on a regular basis, or you can end up paying for hard drive data recovery services.
Conclusion
Hard drives can overheat easily if they are not kept in well-ventilated areas. Keeping your drive cool is necessary to make sure it runs efficiently. Follow the tips to keep your hard drive in optimal condition.
