@pccheese, George A. I was curious about this also, so I checked out quite a few forums and they were all pretty close to the same conclusion on HD ideal and safe operating ranges. Look's like yours may be running on the high side of acceptable. Maybe also look up your particular HD and it may have actual heat range specification. Found this info. at the link below which you should check out as it is fairly informative, talks about failure rates, etc..
What is a Safe Hard Disk Temperature Range?
Drawing conclusions from the Google paper, smaller independent studies and tech forum users:
Hard Disk Temperature
Less than 25°C: Too cold
25°C to 40°C: Ideal
41°C to 50°C: Acceptable
More than 50°C: Too hot
Good luck. I hope this helped you out, if so let me know by pressing the helpful button.
http://www.buildcomputers.net/hdd-temper...
crwdns2934105:0crwdne2934105:0
crwdns2934113:0crwdne2934113:0
crwdns2915270:0crwdne2915270:0
crwdns2889612:0crwdne2889612:0
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