On Mon, 26 Sep 2005 20:11:48 -0400, Jim Cornette <fc-cornette@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Laptop drives have roughly 330 hrs of rated operation per month. When > the drives are never powered off, it does not fully cool and heat > buildup will eventually kill the hard drive. They are desgned for > roughly 10 hr a day operation, not for continuous use. Do you have an idea what a normal operating temperature for 2.5" drives might be? On my usually-on-but-often-idle laptop (running FC2 for relevance to this list!), /usr/sbin/smartctl -A /dev/hda | grep Temperature reports 38 degrees C at the moment. This doesn't seem very hot as electronics go, but I don't know about disk drives. That temperature can rise a good deal if the disk is very active, or especially if the laptop is in a confined space; its lifetime peak is 53 C, which does seem uncomfortably warm, but it spends almost no time at such high temps. Mine is a Toshiba drive, though not a Travelstar -- it's a MK6026GAX.