I hear thwatcking it with a hammer usually works good.
Did a quick google search and turned up <a href='http://www.hddtemp.com/' target='_blank'>this.</a> As for a normal temp, probably the ambient temp of the inside of your case. You can probably get this info from your bios, or if you can go get motherboard monitor, freeware program I think.
If you have a spare thermometer thing with your motherbaord (it'll look like a piece of wire with a round usually brown patch on one ened and a 2 pin jumper connecter on the other end) plug it in and thwack it on your hard drive then use any BIOS monitoring tool (even your BIOS will do) and look at the temperature of whichever one isn't specifically named.
If its too hot you can get fans that fit in 3.25 drive bays specifically designed for cooling HDD's or I ingeniuosly stuck an old CPU fan to the inside of my case with a lump of blu-tac.
I don't have a thermometer. I got the HDDtemp tool and it dosn't even install.... <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Sometimes I use a spare thermometer lieing around and place it to the metal casing, or beneath it, for many of them are built that way (don't know why).
Or simply use your intuitive sense. If placing your finger on the metal plate singes the hairs on your knuckles, well then you got a spokin hdd.
Alot of new drives come with something called S.M.A.R.T which is built in diagnostic functions in your actual drive, one of these is a thermometer. More info on S.M.A.R.T - <a href='http://www.pcmech.com/show/harddrive/158/' target='_blank'>Clickeh</a> Then just <a href='http://www.google.com/search?num=20&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&q=free+S.m.a.r.t+hard+drive+software&btnG=Search' target='_blank'>google</a> for some free software
<a href='http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php' target='_blank'>http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php</a> is what I use.
Usual operation is about 40 degrees C for me <!--emo&???--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Comments
Did a quick google search and turned up <a href='http://www.hddtemp.com/' target='_blank'>this.</a>
As for a normal temp, probably the ambient temp of the inside of your case. You can probably get this info from your bios, or if you can go get motherboard monitor, freeware program I think.
If its too hot you can get fans that fit in 3.25 drive bays specifically designed for cooling HDD's or I ingeniuosly stuck an old CPU fan to the inside of my case with a lump of blu-tac.
Or simply use your intuitive sense. If placing your finger on the metal plate singes the hairs on your knuckles, well then you got a spokin hdd.
More info on S.M.A.R.T - <a href='http://www.pcmech.com/show/harddrive/158/' target='_blank'>Clickeh</a>
Then just <a href='http://www.google.com/search?num=20&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&q=free+S.m.a.r.t+hard+drive+software&btnG=Search' target='_blank'>google</a> for some free software
Usual operation is about 40 degrees C for me <!--emo&???--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused.gif' /><!--endemo-->