Hi Guys, I'm new here so bare with me .

I have an Dell Inspiron 6400 (about 18 months old now), I have put the specs on my profile, so I hope you can see it.

I was playing Football Manager 2008 a couple of days ago, it does not take a large load on the HDD. And of course there was a big game on TV at the same time. So i go to pick the laptop up and I kid you not I thought it was going burn my hand off it was so hot. I have never had this problem before. It was coming from where the HDD is.

So I downloaded a couple of diagnostic tools for HDD health, temp etc. To my shock the temp of the HDD was 67C! (Thats 152F!). But the health is excellent. The Dual Core CPU is at a healthy 52-60C.

I have shut the laptop down for a good 24hrs and started it up again with minimal processes and no HDD load and it reads 60-67C over an hour. I turned off my Anti-Virus of completly because I know they can take alot of resourses up. Now I know this is far too high and my HDD will just melt or something along those lines.

I have made sure that there is good ventilation but still the problem persists. Any ideas what is causing this? The HDD is only about 8 months old (the last one broke, I got a replacement from dell through warrenty). Is there anything I can do to get it back down to a good temp? I'm not going anywhere near games atm, too scared!

Cheers,

Ben

It sounds like the harddrive bearings are shot, and are creating abnormally high heat. that is a very dangerous temperature, because i know, at least for desktop drives, max safe temperature is 55 degrees Celsius.

Hello there, and welcome to PCHF!

I have used a lot of laptops and in my experience they often get to 3rd-degree burn levels. No, it isn't good; yes, it happens. Now, I'll let another tech determine if that's extremely abnormal, but what I can suggest would be a cooling pad such as the following:

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!

I'd go for one with a fan in it; the ones that just prop the laptop up like the Targus PA241U are far less effective and only good if your laptop is automatically at a low temperature, or if you're idling.

I have never seen a laptop harddrive get that hot. my parents brand new Toshiba Laptop has 2 5400RPM Hitachis and they stay under 45 degrees even when defragging.

Well, I've never measured my computers and I know they don't get that hot (I assume it's the CPU that reaches those temps anyway), but I was pointing out that they can get quite hot. I agree with your diagnosis, especially since you're much more advanced than me, but I still would suggest an external cooler regardless.

Thanks for the prompt reply, I have set my CPU/System Fans to full speed and the temp of the HDD is 59C Constant. Which is still unacceptable, I have ordered a laptop cooler, hoping thats going to help. Im guessing the HDD is on its way out, which is annoying.

I have no probs with getting a new one, but I just can't be bothered the re-install windows, drivers, games etc. How could I go about cloning and laptop HDD?