Hard Drive Overheating

[Danw45]

My niece's Dell Inspiron 5100 has got a Hitachi 40 gig hd and it over heats.
Got a laptop cooler and it still runs hot 125deg's and up.
If i take a regular house fan and turn it pointing up and sit the laptop on top of the fan it will bring it down to about 118deg's.
Do I need to replace the hard drive?
She used to leave this on 24/7 without a cooler under it.
I build desktops but have never worked on a laptop, other that reinstalling her o/s and programs when it got to hot.
How hard is it to replace the hard drive in a laptop?
:sweat:

[jbennet]

I think the thermometer reading is bad. Dells are notorious for giving false readings

[Danw45]

I think the thermometer reading is bad. Dells are notorious for giving false readings

I borrowed a non contact thermometer, and had the laser pointed right on the hd to get the readings to. I was using software to get the temps but wanted to be more sure of the temps i was seeing.

[jbennet]

hmm have you cleaned out all the fans and heatsniks? laptops get clogged with dust inside really easialy.

if you do decide to replace it, its difficult but doable (just bear in mind laptop hdds are different to desktop hdd's)

[Danw45]

Oh yes I have blown it out. and yes a hell of a sight different. Just need to figure out how to get it out of there.

[jbennet]

what i have to do (i have an ibm thinkpad) is remove a screw on the bottom of the machine. (should be specially marked)