Normal Temperature for a 7200 RPM Laptop Hard Drive
A conventional 2.5-inch notebook hard drive operates at 5400 or 7200 RPM, which refers to the rotational speed of the drive's internal platters. If all other aspects of two hard drives are equal, a 7200 RPM hard drive offers data transfer speeds superior to those of a 5400 RPM hard drive. However, the higher rate of speed requires more power, translating to increased heat production.
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Temperature
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In 2008, CRN.com conducted a test of four 2.5-inch hard drives. Three of the hard drives operated at 7200 RPM and produced temperature readings between 90.7 and 97.7 degrees Fahrenheit. In 2009, a comparable test of a 7200 RPM hard drive conducted by NotebookReview recorded similar results; readings between 86 and 91.4 degrees. However, rotational speed alone does not determine a hard drive's temperature. The CRN.com test also included a 5400 RPM hard drive that produced temperature readings between 93.2 and 94.2 degrees.
Power Consumption
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When comparing hard drives, you can use rotational speed to predict a hard drive's temperature only if everything else is the same. Since this is rarely the case -- and temperature measurements for laptop hard drives can be difficult to find -- look for power consumption readings when shopping for a new hard drive. The higher a hard drive's power consumption, the more heat it releases as a waste product. The website Tom's Hardware ranked 40 mobile hard drives by peak power consumption and found results ranging from 1.52 to 4.43 watts.
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Cooling
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To minimize the effect that a hotter hard drive has on your notebook, check the cooling system to confirm it is operating at peak efficiency. The inside of the notebook including the fan blades, heat sink fins and other components should be clean and free of dust. In addition, check your computer's instruction manual to confirm that the cooling system supports 7200 RPM hard drives before purchasing a replacement hard drive. You can install a 7200 RPM hard drive in any notebook unless the manufacturer specifically advises against it.
Solid-State Drives
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If you can tolerate the increased cost and decreased storage capacity, consider upgrading your notebook with a solid-state drive rather than a 7200 RPM hard drive. Solid-state drives contain memory chips instead of rotating platters. Without the mechanical limitations of hard drives, solid-state drives transfer data faster than hard drives but consume less power. A solid-state drive may consume as little as 0.06 watts at idle, while even the most energy-efficient notebook hard drives consume 0.5 watts. While the fastest notebook hard drives read and write sequential data at approximately 90MB per second, the fastest solid-state drives read and write sequential data at over 500MB and over 300MB per second, respectively.
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