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Some software programs can etermine the temperature of the hard drive. E.g. HWMonitor:
I say that there must be a thermometer inside the HDD and the data (via SMART) is passed as regular info to the soft which wants that info .
My colleague say that no, there's no thermometer inside the HDD. (i.e. the software guesses the heat based on the drive's RPM.)
How do programs determine the temperature of the HDD?
Royi Namir
Posted 2013-04-28T19:48:12.470
Reputation: 4 568
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The hard drive has a temperature sensor (or multiple temperature sensors - they might be used for internal control, self-test etc...) inside, and this data is passed through SMART (in fact, this is a standardized SMART parameter).
Renan
Posted 2013-04-28T19:48:12.470
Reputation: 7 463
@Hennes, What does searchinf mean? – Pacerier – 2015-06-05T06:08:53.943
1Try "searching" and transpose your finger one position to the left when you intended to type the "g" – Hennes – 2015-06-05T07:32:21.007
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Aye. OP could have found by just reading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T., scrolling to parameter 190 ans searchinf for the word temperature. (E.g. open page, <kbd>Control</kbd>-<kbd>F</kbd>, temperature <kbd>Enter</kbd>).
2@Hennes I assumed it relates to SMART. wasn't so sure. and hence - did not look it under SMART category. – Royi Namir – 2013-04-28T20:06:19.417
1Now you have two links to show your colleague though. ;-) – Hennes – 2013-04-28T20:07:52.623
3But by posting it on SO many of gets to be entertained, so it's not a waste. – crdx – 2013-05-03T17:53:57.273
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No, the temperature monitor is embedded into the HDD. It's a more recent addition and you will only see it with some of the newer SCSI disks. Anything older than a few years won't have the sensors.
It's actually a part of the S.M.A.R.T. suite that reports around 30 attributes. (http://www.hdsentinel.com/smart/index.php)
The software just pulls it from the hardware. You won the argument.
Will.Beninger
Posted 2013-04-28T19:48:12.470
Reputation: 1 402
@DavidSchwartz, @ WillBeninger, So in such cases whereby the info cannot be found in SMART parameter, what do they use to tell the temperature? – Pacerier – 2015-06-05T06:11:40.963
@Pacerier If there is no hardware temperature sensor, then the temperature cannot e reported. – David Schwartz – 2015-06-05T15:19:42.717
1I don't understand. SMART has been for years now. are you telling me that only the new drives has sensors ? I have a 5 years old drive which I can tell its temperature....please explain. – Royi Namir – 2013-04-28T20:08:07.733
6It's an infrared thermometer. It's integrated in the hard drive. I used to have to replace them all the time when they used to have a high failure rate. They are pretty good now. Edit: Anything supporting SMART should have the thermometer integrated. 5 years old is not that bad. I'm talking about 10-15 years old. – Will.Beninger – 2013-04-28T20:08:48.453
10Consumer hard drives started including temperature sensors in 2008. Before that, PCs typically had no hard drive temperature sensors and Macs typically had a sensor bonded to the outside of the drive. Modern drives have a sensor bonded to the inside of the drive casing. Last I checked, most hard drives used thermistors because there was no device already bonded to the inside of the case and a thermistor is cheap if used alone. SSDs typically use silicon bandgap temperature sensors integrated into the controller, cheap because no additional device is needed. – David Schwartz – 2013-04-28T20:31:27.797
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all the software uses statistics about heat from the RPM info"
Hard disk drives spin at a constant rate (usually 5400 RPM, 7200 RPM, 10000 RPM, or 15000 RPM). So the statistics on RPM info will probably be of little value for determining temperature.
Jerry Asher
Posted 2013-04-28T19:48:12.470
Reputation: 401
@Justinᚅᚔᚈᚄᚒᚔ, Well, how about more speed = more energy usage = more heat output? – Pacerier – 2015-06-05T05:46:44.860
@Jerry, "probably" is not ok. Citation please. – Pacerier – 2015-06-05T05:48:28.557
More speed and same generation might mean more heat. But it is certainly not true everywhere (e.g. modern helium filled drives with less friction). – Hennes – 2015-06-05T07:34:06.950
2Obviously the higher the RPM the cooler the drive is, since the faster-spinning platters fling the heat off of the surface with much greater force than the slower platters. /s – Justin ᚅᚔᚈᚄᚒᚔ – 2013-04-29T15:51:46.390
@Justinᚅᚔᚈᚄᚒᚔ I would upvote that, but I'm afraid that future visitors might think you're serious. :) – Moshe Katz – 2013-04-29T19:36:41.573
@barlop What happens then when there's no temperature monitors in those HDDs? http://superuser.com/questions/588878/how-do-software-programs-determine-the-hdd-temperature#comment1248758_588880
– Pacerier – 2015-06-05T06:12:38.463@Pacerier yrs ago people either didn't know the temp at all or wud stick a temperature sensor pad on the/a device.That was done more4the CPU temp(that's more important than hard drive temp),some people put a probe on the heatsink(or in-drilling in) . People put pads on hard drives to measure their temp too.Tho@some point over a decade ago, motherboards started monitoring/reporting CPU temp,n hard drives started reporting their temp.And at some point infra red thermometers came out and it's possible to point them(like a gun) at whatever one can see eg at hard drives,and measure the temp of them – barlop – 2015-06-05T10:03:08.387
16Your colleague is completely clueless and foolish. – barlop – 2013-04-28T22:44:55.947