Is it possible for overheating to crash my Mac?

[Vice92]

I have a MacBook Pro and I recently got a MediaSonic 4-drive hd enclosure. I noticed after I started using it and transferring some large files from one hard drive in the enclosure to another in the enclosure, my computer would crash. I would get that message saying " you have to restart your computer". This happened ~3 times with the fan for the enclosure set to auto.

I then switched it to its highest setting, and am just about to finish transferring a 80GB folder with no problems.

Is it logical to assume the hard drives (there are 3 of them in this enclosure) were overheating, causing my computer to crash in order to protect them?

 

[GGJstudios]

Macs are designed to shut down, not crash, when they get too hot. This usually doesn't happen unless temps are sustained at a high temp (higher than 105C) for a period of time. Also, hard drives are not a primary source of high temps. The GPU and CPU are the big furnaces.

 

[Fubar1977]

Agreed. In this case heat is unlikely to be the cause of your problem.
As ggj said, the Mac will shutdown after sustained internal high temps.

 

[Vice92]

I understand my Mac will shut down, but isn't it feasible that this enclosure has a chip in it to prevent overheating as well?

I've now transferred over 700GB's in the past 8hrs with no problems.

 

[SuperCachetes]

I understand my Mac will shut down, but isn't it feasible that this enclosure has a chip in it to prevent overheating as well?

Whether or not that is the case, the hard drive enclosure will not shut the Mac down. Isn't that what you are suggesting?

 

[GGJstudios]

I understand my Mac will shut down, but isn't it feasible that this enclosure has a chip in it to prevent overheating as well?

Not likely. Hard drives, as a rule, don't generate temperatures high enough to warrant shutting down a drive, and if it did have such a capability, it could only shut down the drive, not your Mac. As already stated, hard drives are not a primary source of heat in notebooks. If your Mac is crashing, the problem isn't heat-related.

 

[Animalk]

Judging by what you are telling me and looking up the product:

Your enclosure is failing to cool the drives when in automatic mode.
Hard drives are not chips and have lower max operating temperatures. Not only this, Your enclosure is likely to have its own set of memory controllers that might also be overheating.

You may also have one or more hard drives operating at too high of a temperature (very rare).

Make sure the drivers and firmware for the enclosure are up to date. Make sure your operating system is up to date. Make sure whatever connection you are using is not lose in the jacks on both sides.

Good luck.

 

[Vice92]

Judging by what you are telling me and looking up the product:

Your enclosure is failing to cool the drives when in automatic mode.
Hard drives are not chips and have lower max operating temperatures. Not only this, Your enclosure is likely to have its own set of memory controllers that might also be overheating.

You may also have one or more hard drives operating at too high of a temperature (very rare).

Make sure the drivers and firmware for the enclosure are up to date. Make sure your operating system is up to date. Make sure whatever connection you are using is not lose in the jacks on both sides.

Good luck.

This is on the lines of what I think is happening too. I emailed the company to see if an updated driver is available, but until then I guess I'll just keep the fans on high.

Thanks