Hard Drive Recovery Case Study: Computer Overheating

Overheating is a serious problem for people, cars and especially computers and hard drives. In my post Speed Kills With Hard Drives Its Heat, I talk about how heat can be very bad for hard drives. Today we are going to look at the world outside of the computer. You would be amazed at how many hard drive recovery cases we get that are heat related. It doesn’t matter if its a laptop hard drive, desktop, external or a mini drive, they are all susceptible to heat.

Heat Related Hard Drive Recovery

With a desktop computer you can add fans inside the box as well as right on the hard drive itself. You have no such luxury with laptop computers. The thing to do with a notebook is to keep the air flowing around it. Don’t use it while it is laying on a bed for example. There are laptop fans that you can buy for your desk if you have a dedicated workstation for your notebook. With the powerful options now available in laptops more and more people are using them as their primary computers, even companies. If a notebook is your main machine, keep it cool and avoid overheating.

For those of us that need the computing power that you can only get from a desktop, we do have options for keeping the system cool. Most new computers have advanced cooling options and these are just as important as duel core processors and gigs of RAM. Spend the extra dough and get as much cooling as you can when you configure your new computer.

The picture below is a typical computer cabinet desk combo. While it looks good and keep everything organized, it is a computer killer.

By squeezing your computer into a tight space you are stopping any air flow. Computers, like people need to breathe and stay cool. If you are looking at computer desks or furniture, make sure your computer has plenty of breathing room and air flow.  Heat is a major cause of hard drive recovery, so do everything you can to keep your drive and computer cool.