31 comment

1. 35C is a little premature to be shutting down the system, or even to get additional cooling. Most manufacturers specify a maximum operating temperature of 60C as being fully within specifications. Check your drive manufacturer’s web site for the specifications for your particular drive. During periods of high activity (e.g., backups, RAID sync), a drive can easily exceed 50C. Shutting down every time that happens is not productive.

2. Mace,

   I agree with you. 35C is just for example. You can set ALERT_LEVEL as per your requirements or just send an email. The post has been updated to reflect your views.

   Appreciate your post!

3. Neat little howto. Instant success

   box@ubuntu:~$ sudo hddtemp /dev/sda
   /dev/sda: SAMSUNG SPXXXX: 33°C
   box@ubuntu:~$ sudo hddtemp /dev/sdb
   /dev/sdb: SAMSUNG SPXXXX: 32°C

   Here on my striped raid.

   I would welcome a warning instead of immediate box shutdown w/o named reason. Some speaker beeps would fulfill that approach.

   the polarizer

   PS: Have to check whether the sda drive which is more hot is on the top.

4. Vivek,

   Nice program. I’m gonna try out hddtemp for windows xp sp2.

   Cheers,

   STT

5. For example. Seagate disks work normally even at 50C, but if such temp will last longer, Seagate drives will start to squel, but if you have a server room…

6. I personally think that you are the best Linux blogger that I’ve ever seen. I read your blog all the time and I think it’s so well done. My browser home page set to cyberciti.biz!

7. Thanks for the feedback! You made my day 😀

8. Its Really use full for me. Thanks vivek.

9. this program has an error with my version of hddtemp.
   $4 should read $3
   ‘ should read ‘
   so the line should be:
   HDTEMP=$($HDT $disk | awk ‘{ print $3}’ | awk -F ‘°’ ‘{ print $1}’)

   additionally, if a shutdown is to occur, and there is more than one hard drive, the shutdown command will be executed for the number of hard drives that exceed the temperature. i am a linux newbie and don’t know if this is relevant.
   P.

10. Check hddtemp-0.3-beta15/src/hddtemp.c
    on line 227, the hddtemp tool can also print out just the temperature value. No need to parse the output and fetch the value from a formatted string.
    Just issue this command:
    
/usr/local/sbin/hddtemp /dev/hdc --numeric


11. This is my cron script using the –numeric arg:
    
#!/bin/bash
HDDS="/dev/hdc"
HDT=/usr/sbin/hddtemp
LOG=/usr/bin/logger
DOWN=/sbin/shutdown
ALERT_LEVEL=55
args="--numeric"
for disk in $HDDS
do
if [ -b $disk ]; then
HDTEMP=$($HDT $disk $args)
$LOG "HDTEMP for $disk is $HDTEMP"
if [ $HDTEMP -ge $ALERT_LEVEL ]; then
$LOG "System going down as hard disk : $disk temperature $HDTEMP exceeded its limit"
sync;sync
$DOWN -h 0
fi
fi
done


    1. Great Contribution!

       Thanks!

12. My Drive is named: SAMSUNG HD400LJ
    and behaves normally, 194 is allright 🙂
    Thanks for this great software!

13. Thank you, just what i need fore my server in my closet 🙂

    But i think i will make it beep fist and if the temperature raises further then shutdown.

14. HDT=”/usr/sbin/hddtemp -n”

15. WARN_LEVEL=40
    ALERT_LEVEL=63
    for disk in $HDDS
    do
      if [ -b $disk ]; then
    	HDTEMP=$($HDT $disk)
            if [ $HDTEMP -ge $ALERT_LEVEL ]; then
    		date >> ~/Desktop/ERRORS.TXT
               	echo "System going down as hard disk : $disk temperature is $HDTEMP°C" >> ~/Desktop/ERRORS.TXT
               sync;sync
    		$DOWN -h 0
    	else
    		echo $disk - $HDTEMP
            fi
    	if [ $HDTEMP -ge $WARN_LEVEL ]; then
    		date >> ~/Desktop/ERRORS.TXT
               	echo "hard disk : $disk temperature is $HDTEMP°C" >> ~/Desktop/ERRORS.TXT
    		/usr/bin/notify-send -u critical -c device.error -i /usr/share/icons/Human/32x32/status/dialog-warning.png -t 900 "HDD TEMP" "$disk temperature $HDTEMP°C"
    		zenity --info --text "hard disk : $disk temperature $HDTEMP°C"
               sync;sync
            fi
      fi
    done
    exit 0

16. To see temperature for /dev/sda, enter the following command:
    # hddtemp /dev/sda
    Output:

    /dev/sdb: WDC WD2500YS-01SHB1: 25°C

    The output should also be /dev/sda not sdb.

    1. Hi Vivek,

       SteveH is right there is a typo (should be the same device ! sda )

       And Andrey ask a useful question: Is it possible to get any SMART HDD info using a HDD-USB drive ?

       TIA!

       1. Philippe,

          I’ve updated the post. And yes, it works with hdd info using a USB drive directly connected to system or via docking station.

          HTH

17. Hi!
    Thanks for your blog!
    Tell me please, will it work for me if I use the SATA Docking Station, so the hard drive is connected to my computer via usb?
    What am I supposed to do?

    1. Yes, it works with laptop docking station connected via USB.

       hddtemp sata:/dev/sdc

18. Hi,

    First off, thanks for the great tutorial and information.

    I have a question. How does this work with RAID drives, or can it? For example, all of my servers are running either RAID-0,2,6, etc and usually all the drives show up as one in linux (ex: /dev/sda).

    I have not tried this method yet, but I’m wondering if and how this would work with RAID (where a raid controller connects the drives to the system).

    Thanks,
    Luc

    1. Most modern RAID controller expose themself to you via different device name under Linux. See this FAQ. Also cli tools provided by RAID controller can be used to obtain the same info. It all depends upon your RAID card. However, hddtemp may not work for RAID based hard disk, use smartctl command:

       smartctl -d scsi --all /dev/sg1  | grep -i temp
       Temperature Warning Disabled or Not Supported
       Current Drive Temperature:     23 C
       Drive Trip Temperature:        65 C
       

       This is from Adaptec 5405 SAS running FUJITSU hard disks.

19. Hi,
    Mine is 59C! It’s too hot. You said cooling options, please someone tell me how can I cool down my hard drive?
    Laptop: Acer Aspire 5536
    Linux: Ubuntu 10.04
    Here’s the output of hddtemp command:
    sudo hddtemp /dev/sda
    /dev/sda: WDC WD3200BEVT-22ZCT0: 59°C
    Thanks in advance.

    1. You can put a small fan in front of the drives ( in the front of your comp-case ). this well draw fresh (cool) air in and blow it over the Harddisk and cooling it. Also, place your computer on the floor ( the air is cooler on the floor )

       I am having this problem : I use hddtemp (daemon) in combination with conky. My 4 internal drives report just fine, but my 2 external sata-drives connected with usb don’t report the temperature ( -> N/A in conky ). The internal and external drives are all Samsung model 103SJ / SI or UJ. ( i tried putting sata: in front of the device name in the conky config file. When i try hddtemp in terminal ‘hddtemp /dev/sbb’ i get ‘/dev/sdb: SAMSUNG HD103SI: S.M.A.R.T. not available’, when i try ‘hddtemp sata:/dev/sdb’ i get a several lines of weird characters and the correct temperature behind them)
       Any suggestions how to fix this ?

20. I do not recommend hddtemp. My application fails because of it.
    I run it about 30 times and in the middle, it fails. It causes an error on the bus. I’m looking for something better.

21. Not working on USB drives

    hddtemp /dev/sde
    /dev/sde: WD Ext HDD 1021: S.M.A.R.T. not available

    1. sudo smartctl -d auto -A /dev/sdb | grep -i temperature

       where sdb is an external usb drive (this was a usb 3.0 connection)

22. Created the below script in a file (called check-hddtemp) in /usr/local/sbin/ and set it to run every 30min in my Ubuntu Server 11.10’s crontab file (in /etc/). Script is below and so is more information how to set it up.

    #!/bin/bash
    HDDS="/dev/sda"
    HDT=/usr/sbin/hddtemp
    LOG=/usr/bin/logger
    DOWN=/sbin/shutdown
    ALERT_LEVEL=50
    args="--numeric"
    for disk in $HDDS
    do
    if [ -b $disk ]; then
    HDTEMP=$($HDT $disk $args)
    $LOG "HDTEMP for $disk is $HDTEMP"
    if [ $HDTEMP -ge $ALERT_LEVEL ]; then
    $LOG "System going down due hard disk : $disk temperature $HDTEMP exceeded its limit"
    sync;sync
    $DOWN -h 0
    fi
    fi
    done
    

    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=12144858

23. Hi
    Insted of:
    HDTEMP=$($HDT $disk | awk ‘{ print $4}’ | awk -F ‘°’ ‘{ print $1}’)
    try use
    HDTEMP=$($HDT -n $disk | awk ‘{ print $1}’)

24. For Windows users, you can download smartmontools for Windows (free) http://www.smartmontools.org/wiki/Download#InstalltheWindowspackage instead of using a trial version of hddtemp. Then create check.bat to check the temp and if it reaches the max level, use the shutdown command plus some echo command to a log file.

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