I have an old ide drive that does not support s.m.a.r.t, so my usual tool of hddtemp is not able to report the temperature. I tried googling but everything brought up hddtemp so I am asking here.

I know there has to be a tool to get temps from non-smart drives but google is too polluted with hddtemp ( even using -hddtemp in my query ).

So can someone recommend a tool for reporting temps for older ide drives? thanks

I think you are just SOL. Prior to smart ide drive usually did not have sensors. That drive has to be pretty old not to have it though. I have a 40gig drive from when 40gig drives were new and it has smart.

I would say the hard drive does not have a built in temperature sensor since it isn't SMART (pun intended).

A temperature sensor (i.e., thermometer) taped to the hard drive.

Mhuh, measuring the temperature will not save your drive from overheating, I'd suggest placing it in a well ventilated place in the case instead.

Actually, that can be done. Your local pet store should carry a digital thermometer with a corded sensor (normally used to measure the temp inside a reptile terrarium with readout mounted outside).

I do have two questions, though.

1) Why is temperature such an issue? If the drive is mounted in a normal drive bay, it shouldn't overheat unless a cooling fan should fry, at which time the mobo and other boards would be at much greater risk of damage.

2) Exactly how old is that drive? Even my 16g Western Digital had S.M.A.R.T.

Cheers