Disks Running Hot

[Stuart Jones]

Hi, all.  I have a home server, based on the Logic Case SC-316-ATX.  This is a 16 disk 3U case, with a HBA array, with the 3.5 in disks quite close together.  And even though I have added 120 mm Noctua fans at higher spec than the ones that the supplier uses, my drives are running between 40-49 deg C.  Which is higher than I would like.  I've tried many things to get the disks to be cooler, nothing has worked.

So my only hope is to get the disks to power down and stay that way when not being purposefully used.  I have set the power management side of Windows to get the disks to sleep after 30 minutes and adjusted the Advanced Settings (through the JSON file, setting true to false for Bitlocker, which I do not knowingly use anyhow) of DrivePool.  I have checked the StableBit Scanner ProgramData files, these are many, none with a content relating to Bitlocker I could find.

Is there anything else I might be missing?  I know much of this is in old posts, but these are now at least 3 years ago so I want to be sure I am up to date regarding methodology, files/settings to be adjusted, etc.

[KingfisherUK]

Hi Stuart,

What type/speed of disks are you using, what controller are you using and what are the ambient room temps like?

I have a 24-bay LogicCase SC-4324S in a rack in my study, which is quite small space, currently running with 18 drives and even in the recent hot UK weather, none of my drives got above about 34-35 degrees C. Right now (Saturday AM, ambient room temp of 22 degrees) they are mostly running at 25-26 degrees (as reported by StableBit Scanner). These are mainly 5400rpm drives and set to spin down when not in use, but even the few 7200rpm drives I have are only 2-3 degrees warmer.

I did have an issue in the past where the HBA I was using wasn't properly supported in Windows Server 2016 and wouldn't allow the disks to spin down regardless of any power management settings, even though it had worked perfectly under Server 2012.