DS218J with WD Red Plus drive temperature

[bbunge]

I recently replaced the drives in my DS218J with WD80EFZZ. AM running DSM 7.1.1-42962 Update 1. The NAS is in a cool basement room. I've noticed the drives are reporting a 3 degree C temperature difference. This with the fan on Full (23C and 26C). With the fan in "Cool" mode the temperature goes up slightly but maintains the same temperature difference. With the old WD Red 4TB drives I did not notice this temperature difference but did have to replace a drive earlier this year when it reported errors.
While 3 degrees does not seem like much, I am wondering if this is normal or should I report this to WD and get a replacement for the "warmer" drive? Opinions/suggestions welcomed.

 

[degrub]

constant temperature is more important for drives.

 

[bbunge]

Do not think you read me right. There is a difference in drive Temps. One is at 23C and the other is at 26C. The Temps are constant but two drives in the same enclosure should be the same temp, no?
Higher temp of an equal device could indicate problems?

 

[degrub]

no, i read you clearly. That difference may just be the air flow over the drive. You can try to RMA the drive to WD, but they will likely not be too concerned. Mine run at 40 C constant.

Just because something is measured, does not mean it is significant. If it was 10 deg, C, then i would be concerned.

 

[Samir]

In all of my nas units the same drives have different temp readings--nothing to be alarmed about.

 

[bbunge]

The drive temp difference is due to the design of the DS218J. Drive 2 sits on the metal frame that supports the circuit board. Thus there is no air flow across the bottom of the drive. Looking at the various Synology two drive NAS, the lower end devices are like this. The DS 218 Play has the same configuration while the DS218 and DS220+ have front removable drives.
While I am satisfied the current drive temps will not hasten failure it might be a selling point to the family CFO to invest in a new NAS... Two 8 TB drives in a DS218 would be great unless the DS220+ goes on sale.

FWIW - WD customer support was of no help and just gave me a generic answer to check this and that and load their software to check the drive.

 

[pbond]

I recently replaced the drives in my DS218J with WD80EFZZ. AM running DSM 7.1.1-42962 Update 1. The NAS is in a cool basement room. I've noticed the drives are reporting a 3 degree C temperature difference. This with the fan on Full (23C and 26C). With the fan in "Cool" mode the temperature goes up slightly but maintains the same temperature difference. With the old WD Red 4TB drives I did not notice this temperature difference but did have to replace a drive earlier this year when it reported errors.
While 3 degrees does not seem like much, I am wondering if this is normal or should I report this to WD and get a replacement for the "warmer" drive? Opinions/suggestions welcomed.

The temps you mention are if anything at the lower end of ideal. According to this paper, HDDs were most reliable between 30-40deg C. Though note the paper is from 2007.

Your drive temps will vary by far more than the 3 degC as soon as you use them for any kind of sustained read or write activity. They can easily get 10-20deg C hotter just by using them for a few minutes rather than leaving them idle.

Your concern over idling at 23 vs 26 degC is, imo, without foundation.

Safe HDD Temperature Range to Avoid Hard Disk Failure

What is a safe HDD temperature range to avoid overheating and hard disk failure? How do you monitor hard disk temperature? Get the answers here today.

www.buildcomputers.net

What is the normal operating temperature for Seagate disk drives? | Support Seagate US

Discusses the normal parameters for operating temperatures for Seagate drives.

www.seagate.com

https://documents.westerndigital.com/content/dam/doc-library/en_us/assets/public/western-digital/product/internal-drives/wd-red-plus-hdd/product-brief-western-digital-wd-red-plus-hdd.pdf

 

[Samir]

The drive temp difference is due to the design of the DS218J. Drive 2 sits on the metal frame that supports the circuit board. Thus there is no air flow across the bottom of the drive. Looking at the various Synology two drive NAS, the lower end devices are like this. The DS 218 Play has the same configuration while the DS218 and DS220+ have front removable drives.
While I am satisfied the current drive temps will not hasten failure it might be a selling point to the family CFO to invest in a new NAS... Two 8 TB drives in a DS218 would be great unless the DS220+ goes on sale.

FWIW - WD customer support was of no help and just gave me a generic answer to check this and that and load their software to check the drive.

I have several of these that 'stack' the drives--DS215J, 2x DS213J--as well as units that don't like the DS415play and DS220+. I also have units by QNAP that have drive stacking, don't have drive stacking, and even a rack mount. And then there's the ones by other manufacturers like WD, Netgear, and Lenovo.

The DS213J pairs have identical drives in them of different sizes (10Tb and 8TB) and identical configurations, and yet the drive temps between the two units vary slightly (2-3C). This is normal because there is only so much precision in the thermal conductivity of the materials. Again, nothing to worry about.

Heat is the killer of electronics. You can't freeze them as that causes its own problem, but keeping them as air cooled as possible is always a good idea--this is why when computers came out, the fans were at fixed speeds that cooled without regard to noise. The concept of noise being an issue that was worth compromising longevity came with the advent of 'home' computers and consumers who didn't (and still don't) understand that noise and cooling capacity are inversely proportional. Luckily, you can do all sorts of things to set a fan to 100% to keep things cool, and this is exactly what I do on all these nas units. And doing this can lower the temps by as much as 10C, so I would just recommend that route if you have that capability.