Seagate 3TB USB drive always reported as running hot

drlarsen

I have a 3TB Seagate USB drive, model ST3000DM001-9YN166. Scanner always reports it as running hot in SMART details. While idle, it's showing 50C and if I actually use the drive it goes up from there.

In the disk control settings, it always shows Advanced Power Management checked along with Maximum Performance (no standby). If I try to change the options, it just goes back to the original settings when I click the Set button. If I disable the Advanced Power Management setting, it seems to have no effect and comes back after a reboot.

I should also mention the drive doesn't feel particularly hot and it's not sitting in a bad location. In fact, it's sitting flat on a table with absolutely nothing else around it in a somewhat cool room. That said, the drive is enclosed in a plastic housing, so I guess it's not that great of a heat conductor.

Any ideas what's going on?

ian_spencer

Drives in Plastic housing for me run hot 60+ even when room is cool while they are working. Drives in metal or well ventilated USB enclosure no problems. Conclusion Plastic is not good for drives although Google Hard drive report they did on drives a few years ago on a lot of drives S.M.A.R.T data indicated that drive failure was not significantly linked to heat but did not mention how hot they were talking about and kept most details to themselves.

I have only installed this in the past few days. I have about 24 more hours of copy from a 3TB external drive, I will check and see if the setting stick for me.